Maccabi Tel Aviv plays FC Basel on Wednesday at 21:45 Israel time in the UEFA Champions League Playoff Round with the winner of the two-legged tie advancing to the group stages of the illustrious tournament
Prior to the first leg Philipp Degen, Basel's veteran defender who also was with the club the last time they played Maccabi answered some questions from the Official Maccabi Tel Aviv Website.
Q: How did you respond when you heard that Basel were drawn once again to face Maccabi Tel Aviv?
A. I was surprised about the fact, that the draw was again Maccabi Tel Aviv.
Q. It has been 18 months since you last met Maccabi Tel Aviv. How up-to-date are you about your Tel Aviv opponent?
A. At the draw I wasn't that up-to-date about the team as I didn’t think we would draw Maccabi again. But of course we will study and analyze the squad before the CL play-off game.
Q. What do you think of Maccabi Tel Aviv following the two previous meetings?
A. Maccabi is a really strong team to play against and we need to have two very good days to be able to beat them.
Q. Maccabi signed Avi Rikan from FC Zurich, one can assume that you played against him, what is your impression of him?
A. Avi Rikan is indeed a very good player.
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Q. You played twice against Maccabi at Bloomfield and didn't win. What do you remember as far as atmosphere and weather conditions?
A. The weather conditions were quite hot. It was impressive to play at Bloomfield, how the fans of Maccabi supported their team and pushed the players forward.
Q. FC Basel beat Maccabi twice at St. Jakob Park. What kind of atmosphere should Maccabi expect in Basel?
A. Maccabi knows Basel and the stadium quite well, they know what they will expect.
Q. FC Basel underwent several changes in the past two years, what kind of Basel should Maccabi expect?
A. I think we are quite the same team as in the last two years, but just the squad is different.
