Maccabi secured a European group stage tonight (Thursday) after a 3–1 victory and 5-2 on aggregate over Hamrun Spartans to reach the Europa League Playoffs. At the end, Ido Shahar who scored a first half brace and added a an assist after the break for Osher Davida, summed up the match: “I think we started the match well. We controlled things early on, but then we had some minutes we didn’t play that well, that led to a penalty, and luckily for us, they missed,” Shahar said. “I am really happy that we pulled ourselves together. It was a team effort, and the most important thing is that we advanced.”
On the difficulty of playing without fans, Shahar said: “It’s not easy to play without a home stadium, in an atmosphere without supporters. It requires everyone to give much more their maximum. I’m happy we went through.”
On the two goals he scored and the assist he gave, Shahar added: “I’m very happy, but for me, the goals and the assist are just a bonus. I’m happiest and proud both for the club and for the fans. We are representing Maccabi for another year in Europe; we have secured a group stage. To tell the truth, we still haven’t completed our mission, which is to qualify for the Europa League, that’s our target. We have a very tough match in the next stage against a big club with European tradition. We’ll need to come in at peak readiness and full focus to get through those two games and achieve our goal.”
