Dor Peretz will be making his 71st appearance for Maccabi in Europe when he leads the team out at the Aspmyra stadium in northern Norway. The 29-year-old Maccabi midfielder faced the local media ahead of Thursday’s EUROPA League MD7 against Norwegian champions Bodo/Glimt. With Maccabi currently ranked 27th with six points, Maccabi need a result to keep qualification hopes alive: “I think this match is extremely important for us as we want to qualify for the next round” Peretz said, “We are preparing for the formation, the players and our opponents’ style of play. We know how they play. But with aggressiveness, quality, and the players we have we could achieve our target tomorrow.”

After a long flight from Tel Aviv the team landed in Norway and were welcomed by temperatures that dropped to -8 which would be similar during the match. As well as the sub-zero temperature, Bodo/Glimt’s Aspmyra stadium has an artificial pitch, as Peretz reflected: “It is true we are not used to play at such a temperature or on an artificial surface but nothing would be used as an excuse. We need to do our best, play our game and trust ourselves.”

When asked on representing Israel in Europe in view of the current situation, Peretz replied: “At the end of the day we are coming to play football. We are focusing only on that as we are all here to try and achieve our target in tomorrow’s match which is the most important thing for us.”