Maccabi Tel Aviv faces Kiryat Shemona away on Saturday night at 20:55 as the Yellow-and-Blue look to avenge the Champions Cup loss earlier in the season. Eitan Tibi has raised the level of his game, helping the club advance to the UEFA Champions League Group Stages by playing an integral role against both Viktoria Plzen and Basel.

The central defender took time to look ahead to the match and the preparations around it, the weather conditions and also had a New Year’s message for all of the Maccabi fans:

Last year the match against Kiryat Shemona was postponed due to rain, and this year it may be called off due to dust. What do you think?

“Ever since I’ve been with Maccabi Tel Aviv it seems that we always have a match that’s in doubt with Kiryat Shemona. I hope that the game will take place and I’m sure that it will.”

Did the postponement of Wednesday’s Toto Cup Match hurt your preparation?

“No, not really. We prepare for every match as if we are going to play and we don’t really listen to what’s going on in the news. We do what we need to do to be prepared as best as possible but it’s not easy to train in these types of conditions and occasionally it’s difficult because of the dust. It’s also very hard to get ready properly in the sweltering heat that everyone is experiencing.”

Kiryat Shemona is one of the toughest teams in Israel and you also have Chelsea next week. How do you get ready for these types of matches?

“Every match is money time. It’s been awhile since we played really well and win in Kiryat Shemona but we have one goal and one goal only, to win the match. There hasn’t been enough time to really get ready for Chelsea as we have a very hard game coming up in Kiryat Shemona. The Israeli league for us is most important and where we put a tremendous amount of effort into in order to succeed. Without winning the domestic league we won’t be able to play in the best European competitions like the Champions League.”

I want to also wish everyone a Happy New Year and all the good in the world for the coming New Year! Shana Tova!”