“It was a very good match between two teams that came to play football” Zahavi said after the game, “It was a very physical match. We were dominant in the first half but Maccabi fought hard and this stadium is not an easy place to play at. There aren’t many teams who came here and collected points. I believe that next week at Bloomfield will a serious battle and much more emotional”.

The 35-year-old who spent 3.5 successful years added: “It will be a lot tougher at Bloomfield. It will be a sell-out 30,000 fans supporting and I expect an extremely tough match. Playing at Bloomfield is always fun, especially in front of Maccabi’s fans. It will be a home game for me, but for the other players it will really be a volcano”.

After the final whistle, Zahavi, was seen chatting at length with Maccabi captain, Sheran Yeini, and when asked about what was said he answered with a smile: “We began the trash-talk already yesterday. You wouldn’t like to hear the voice messages that went as low as it gets. I hope he doesn’t let you hear them. I tried to get some information off him, but it didn’t work out in the end”.