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Maccabi Tel Aviv head coach Oscar Garcia talked about the great Derby triumph, keeper Vincent Enyeama cast his eye on next season: "I'll sit down with Lille and we'll see what happens"

Maccabi Tel Aviv's huge Derby victory last night, winning 2-4 against arch rivals Hapoel Tel Aviv, may not have had much bearing on the Israel Premier League table, but there are other reasons the game will nonetheless remain in the club's collective memory for many years to come. To start with this is the first time since 2003/2004 that Maccabi have beaten their big city adversaries three times in the league Derby in one season. Secondly last night's victory means Maccabi have levelled the balance sheet with Hapoel in post-independence Derby matches at 45 wins each, thereby wiping clean the only remaining negative record the club had against any other Premier League side. And they did it in style, coming from two goals down to score four of their own in the last 50 minutes of match play. A brilliant display that highlighted the talent of the four Maccabi goal scorers (Eran Zahavi, Maharan Radi, Roberto Colautti and Dor Micha) who rubbed out the two goal Hapoel advantage created by the goals of Tal Ben Haaim and Apoula Edel.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5j84fKSV-I

After the match the winning coach Oscar Garcia, who was given a touchline ban for arguing with referee Liran Liani during the course of the match, made no attempt to hide his pleasure: "It's important for the fans to understand that it's not easy for the team to play this well after winning the Championship. I'm very proud of all my players, in this match and other matches as well, the fans deserve it. We started out poorly, after conceding two goals we recovered, I know my players wanted to win this match, and I'm very pleased because we've only one more match left till the end of the season. We haven't lost a match in the play-offs against the top teams and demonstrated that we are by far the best side in the country".

Scorer of the brilliant second goal that brought Maccabi on level terms, midfielder Maharan Radi, had this to say after the match: "This was the perfect gift, it was an amazing experience, especially since we started out on the wrong foot and two errors led to conceding two goals. But we got back into it like the champions we are and that shows how strong a mentality we have at this club.  The change came in the last ten minutes of the first half. We started to play more simply and that's what got us the goals. We knew our physical strength would show on the pitch. We scored four goals and the most important thing is winning and bringing joy to our fans".

Goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama was also overjoyed at winning his second Derby for Maccabi this season: "I thank god, there's nothing more precious than to end the season with a Derby win." As for staying here with Maccabi he said: "Of course anything is possible, that depends first of all on Maccabi. I'm sure (sports director) Jordi (Cruyff) and Maccabi will know what to do. As things stand right now this will be my last match of the season, since I won't be appearing next week. I'll be sitting down with my home club Lille in France and I'll see what plans they have for me. I'm under contract there and we'll have to see what happens".

"I want to thank all the players, all the fans, everybody at the club, I love this club and I love Israel, it's an absolutely brilliant country. You've given back to me the confidence I lost last year, I am ever so grateful to you all for that".