“To be honest we didn’t start the game that badly, we created chances we should have converted, his the crossbar and the post. We knew that if we didn’t score by the end of the first half it would be difficult,” Shahar said. “This is a very tough pitch against a team that knows how to stay organized. Unfortunately, we didn’t take advantage of it. Even at the end, there were chances to win the match. A bit of bad luck, but we must lift our heads and move on to the next game.”
Shahar, who was injured in a tackle by Jordan Otanga, who was also sent off, was asked about his condition and said: “Terrible, I can hardly put weight on my foot. It’s part of the game, but I felt it was a bad challenge. It hurt a lot even during the match, but I hope it’ll be okay.”
When asked what made it hard for Maccabi to create a flow of chances, he replied: “I think one of the reasons we struggled to really dominate the field is that with every attack they kept falling on the ground, and we couldn’t get into a rhythm and flowing play. That’s not an excuse though, because we should have scored from the chances we had.”
On whether it was difficult to switch from the match against PAOK Thessaloniki to the one in Doha, he added: “No. At Maccabi we’re used to playing in Europe, and today we had fresh players. We did our maximum to win, we didn’t look back for even a second.”
Finally, when asked about preparing for the upcoming match against Dinamo Zagreb, scheduled right after Yom Kippur, he said: “It’s not an ideal preparation. All of us Israelis will be together in the hotel, and after the fast we’ll go straight to the pitch. But we have a deep squad, with foreigners who don’t fast, and I’m sure they’ll be at peak energy. Of course, it won’t be an excuse, we’re coming to win that game.”
