As part of its’ annual community activities, the Maccabi Tel Aviv Foundation initiated a visit to the Shamir Medical Centre at Assaf Harofe ahead of Purim. Matan Baltaxa, Ofir Davidzada and Dan Biton represented the first team and together with the Foundation representative and club mascot Maccabinio met the kids, had their photos taken and handed out official gifts on behalf of the club.

After the visit, Davidzada spoke about the importance he sees in such community activities: “As footballers, this is one of the most highly regarded things we can do. Visiting these kids was very emotional and is something I proud to do on behalf of the club. It is fun to come here and make these kids happy – as this is the world to them and to us. As players, we have a lot of influence and if one can do positive things with it than this is the best thing we can do. We see their smiles and see how excited they get and it just fills our hearts”.

The 30-year-old, who joined Maccabi in 2017 and his recent good form seemed to have cemented his place at left-back, spoke ahead of Saturday’s Playoff curtain raiser against Sakhnin at Bloomfield: “The kickoff time (15:00) is a game which is ideal for families/ We expect a sell-out crowd and a full stadium. We want everyone to come and push us in a critical match, all the way to a victory”.