Enric Saborit, Maccabi Tel Aviv’s left defensive back spoke about a myriad of topics as he sat down to talk about life in Israel, his background, scoring goals and of course winning the championship:

“My English is improving and I’m learning with Jair Amador. I’m a person who doesn’t have much of a problem getting used to new places. Of course when you first arrive it’s not that easy. You’ll go to the supermarket and you can’t understand a thing. But now things are going great and the people have been terrific to me. When I meet the fans they are great and so nice and they tell me that I’m playing well and that the team is doing fantastic. They also tell me that they’re happy that I’m here and that makes me even happier that things are going the way they should be. I’m very happy here and I hope that I’ll be here for many years to come.”

Who is Enric Saborit:
“I was born in Catalonia, lived in Bilbao and now I’m in Tel Aviv. I’m always asked where do I feel I belong, but I was born on this earth and I belong to every place. I identify myself as Catalonian and with the Basques and I’m sure that if I’m here for three years I’ll also identify with the Israelis. I’m a calm person and I enjoy playing with my dogs. I like going out with my wife and to shop. I also am a fan of the theatre but it’s a bit difficult for me here. I watch television series, for example Fauda and Money Heist.”

Saborit’s tattoos:
“All of the tattoos have meaning. There’s one of my mother and it says ‘Never give up’ and one of my mother in law. I have a puzzle which my mother and brother have. My mother has the middle piece and my brother and I have the side pieces. I also have a key which my wife has as well and I also have a sentence that says ‘Who wants get something will find the way who not an excuse.’”

Scoring goals:
“I scored my first goal with Bilbao in the Europa League and my second at Camp Nou. I’ve scored some nice goals but I want to score even more. My first goal with Maccabi was like this, Dasa crossed the ball, I went inside the box and I kicked the ball with my right foot and scored. It was a nice goal. But I think the second goal was just off the ground. I don’t score many goals so I was excited about these and the second was against Hapoel Beer Sheva, one of the strongest teams.”

The relationship between the players on the squad:
“The club has a very good dressing room and we all get along well with one another. We’re all friends and we’re all part of the club and we’re all one.”

What it means to be a part of Maccabi Tel Aviv:
“I know that being part of Maccabi means you always have to win and that we have to be champions, this mentality was explained to me. If we’re up 2:0 then we have to score the third goal and if it’s 3:0 the the fourth. I like to win and I really hate to lose. I have ambition and my goal is to win the championship, play in Europe and I think we’re on the right track. The people who work here want to accomplish this because it’s been a number of years since the club win the title. I came here with the desire to win the championship and I knew that I was coming to a team that needs to win the championship. That my expectation to win the championship. I’m not surprised because we have a team that can do just that, win the championship.”