Dor Peretz wanted to lead Maccabi to the Champions League phase in his first season as Maccabi’s captain. But the 30-year old midfielder saw his side battle with 10 men for an hour against Cypriot Champions Pafos before losing 1-0 at the TSC Arena and 2-1 on aggregate. After a 1-1 draw in Limassol last week, Maccabi lost goalkeeper Yoav Gerafi to a hamstring injury before his replacement Ofek Melika was sent off inside the 30th minute. “It is a huge disappointment.” Peretz said, “I have nothing to say. I’m trying to calm my thoughts so I can answer. It is very disappointing, a whole year’s work was also aimed at competing in the Champions League and getting such an opportunity. It hurts, this is one of everyone’s dreams. We were in the game despite being a man down, but that’s not enough in this competition. You need to win to progress.”
Peretz who had a goal dissallowed for a marginal offside before the freak occurrence of the goalkeepers changed the game entirely, added:
“We had an early goal that was disallowed, that’s football. That’s what’s beautiful and what’s painful about it. A few minutes later we got a red card, then a one-in-a-million goal. There are games like that, and we’ll need to learn and understand what we did well and what we didn’t. We look ahead, there’s no other choice.”
“In the second half we had a few chances that could have decided the game, but we didn’t manage to take them,” he said afterward.
“That’s the game beautiful on one side, painful on the other. Hopefully later in the season it will be beautiful for us.”
With regards to rest of the European campaign, Peretz said: “I’d like to sit for a moment with the feeling of missing out from this elimination, and then we’ll look toward the Europa League. In football, you face challenges and move on. I’m sure we’ll come out of this stronger.”
