Omer Atzili, the Maccabi Tel Aviv winger looked forward to Monday night’s (21:00) Tel Aviv Derby versus Hapoel at the Moshava Stadium in Petah Tikva:

“I’ve played in one Derby with Maccabi to date. I want to give my all with the goal of helping the squad.”

Achieving goals:
“We still have a lot to prove and there’s a long way to go to achieve our goals. I hope we can continue on our way tomorrow.”

Favorites?
“We aren’t really focusing on that but on ourselves. We all know that a Derby has its own rules. We plan on come into the game modestly and do the best we can.”

Continuing to play well:
“We weren’t great in the last Derby and the match ended in a goalless draw. We have to be ready like we have been over the last number of matches and continue playing well. Everyone understands how important the Derby is. We want to take home the 3 points.”

Preparing for various types of game styles:
We are prepared for many types of games. A lot of teams have come to play defensively against us but we have been able to deal with that style of play. Hopefully that will be the same story tomorrow, come in prepared and take the 3 points.”

Physically fit:
“I’m feeling physically good on the pitch and I understood that is what I had to do if I wanted to play.”

Vladimir Ivic, Maccabi Tel Aviv’s Head Coach addressed the assembled media at the pre-match press conference ahead of Monday night’s (21:00) Derby against Hapoel Tel Aviv at the Moshava Stadium:

“It’s a Derby and we will play against a team that may not have a good position on the table, but they have a lot of good quality players. They have for sure prepared for this game and in a game like this anything can happen. A lot of factors can be important in the game. There are no favorites in a Derby. In a game like this any result is possible. We will all give 100%. Our target is to win the game and take the 3-points.”

The fans:
“We want the fans to be with us at every game both away and at home. We play for ourselves and for our fans. We all want to win the game as does the opponent. Who will win? We will see tomorrow. I’m sure we will give it our all to win the game.”

Enric Saborit’s status:
“We hope Saborit will be ready, we will see at the training session later and then make a decision.”

About Hapoel Tel Aviv:
“He (Kobi Refuah) is a good coach and he’s a good tactical coach. We know they have some new good quality players who will play tomorrow. We all prepare for the game and will do our best to win. It will be a difficult and a tough game for both sides. I hope we will be happy at the end of the game.”

Maccabi Tel Aviv and Cristian Battocchio reached an agreement for the contract termination of the midfielder by mutual consent.

The 26 year-old Argentine-born midfielder, who joined Maccabi in the summer of 2017 as a free transfer and has made 40 appearances in all competitions – mutually agreed with the club to terminate his contract. Battocchio, scored a goal in the 3-1 league victory over Maccabi Haifa on January 15^th last season, one of 24 League appearances he made for Maccabi Tel Aviv. The former Italy U21 international, who wore Maccabi’s Yellow and Blue shirt 11 times in Europe and appeared in all six EUROPA League group stage matches last season, recently recovered from an injury he suffered in April 2018.

Battocchio told the club’s official website: “The club and myself have reached a mutual agreement today. I would like to express my appreciation for the trust of my fellow teammates, the club and the fans put in me. Unfortunately, things didn’t work out the way we had all hoped for. Even though my time at Maccabi was shorter than expected, I fell in love with Tel Aviv and the club and wish the club and fans all the best.”

Maccabi’s CEO, Ben Mansford, added: “Cristian has been a pleasure to have as part of the Maccabi family. Cristian was very much part of our Europa League campaign last year with his performance during the game against Altach in particular. No one will forget the way the team celebrated with him when he scored at Sammy Ofer. Unfortunately Cristian suffered a horrible injury towards the end of last season and this thwarted his progression with us. Cristian is now back towards full fitness and further to discussions with Cristian, we all felt it was best to let Cristian move on now to secure a longer term future elsewhere. I wish Cristian all the very best for the future and he will always be welcome back at Maccabi. Good luck Cristian”.

Maccabi Tel Aviv visits Hapoel Tel Aviv on Monday January 14th at 21:00 on Matchday 18 of the Israel Premier League Ligat Japanika at the Toto-Turner Stadium. Tickets are on sale as per the Away Match Points System and the highest points earners (40 points or more) will be given the right to purchase a ticket to the contest.

A fan that has earned the right to purchase a ticket will receive an SMS with a link to complete the transaction for one ticket until Sunday January 13th at 12:00. A fan that doesn’t purchase the ticket by them will lose the right to purchase the ticket. Tickets may be purchased via the Leaan Website and beginning Thursday 10.1 at 9:00 via the Leaan Ticket Office located at 42 Frishman Street, Tel Aviv and by telephone *8780.

When making the purchase via the website, telephone or Leaan Ticket Office you must have your Season Ticket number/ID number for those who don’t have a season ticket. Please confirm your phone number and email at the time of purchase.

Please note:
Points will not be earned for this match
Print at home only for this match when a ticket is purchased via the website or telephone

Ticket Prices
Maccabi fans will be seated in Sections 1-2
Leaan Ticket Office
Adult – 99 NIS
Child/Soldier/Woman – 49.5 NIS

Telephone/Website
Adult – 104 NIS
Child/Soldier/Woman – 54.5 NIS

Ticket Collection
Tickets may be collected at the Leaan Ticket Office located at 42 Frishman Street between Sunday-Thursday 09:00-19:00, Friday 09:00-12:00.

Maccabi Tel Aviv FC and Hapoel Haifa agreed on the loan deal of 22-year-old winger Matan Hozez till the end of the season.

Hozez, who made four appearances for Maccabi this season in all competitions and spent last season on loan with Bnei Yehuda, will join Hapoel Haifa for a six-month-loan spell.

Maccabi CEO Ben Mansford, told the clubs’ official website: “Matan has been an important part of the culture that we have built at Maccabi this season. Matan has epitomised what Maccabism is. Matan fought every day to push himself and his team mates to the position we currently are in. Unfortunately, Matan has not played as much as he would like and reluctantly we have agreed for him to join Hapoel Haifa in the short term. Everyone at Maccabi believes Matan’s long term future is in Yellow and we are already looking forward to welcoming him back at the end of the season.”

Maccabi Tel Aviv’s 4:1 win over Maccabi Netanya ended another successful evening for Vladimir Ivic’s squad and maintained a 16-point lead on 2nd place on the Israel Premier League Ligat Japanika table. The Yellow & Blue’s recent results have produced some interesting stats and facts:

Setting High Standards
Since the 0:0 Derby on October 1, 2018 Maccabi has recorded five straight home victories with a goal differential of 18:1. 4 against Hapoel Hadera, 3 versus Bnei Sakhnin, 5 against Ashdod, 3 versus Hapoel Beer Sheva, 4 against Maccabi Netanya.

After 17 Matchdays, Maccabi has scored 43 goals the most since 1993/94 when they scored 46. In addition, Maccabi has now scored the most goals after 17 Matchdays since 2000 and passed Hapoel Beer Sheva’s 41 goals from two seasons ago.

Maccabi has now won 7 matches in a row across all competitions and are still undefeated in league play.

In the 17 league matches that have been played to date, Maccabi has scored 2 or more goals in 14 of them.

The goal that will upset Rajkovic
The 86’ goal by Nico Olsak was only the second goal that Maccabi has conceded at home. In fact, the goal was the first by an opposing player to beat Predrag Rajkovic in a home match as the other goal was an own goal by Sheran Yeini for Hapoal Raanana.

The Netanya goal halted an amazing streak of 546 minutes played at home without giving up a goal.

Atzili Double Trouble
It looks like Omer Atzili likes to score braces or not score at all. His brace against Netanya was his third this season in league action and the first time he’s scored since the brace versus away at Kiryat Shemona. Atzili now has 7 league goals and has drawn even with Eliran Atar to lead the team in goal scoring.

Dor Micha scored his first league goal of the campaign and Dan Glezer recorded his first assist in league play and second overall.

Eli Dasa who entered the match in the 35’ assisted on Avi Rikan’s goal and now has 5 assists on the season. Only Micha with 6 has more.

Rikan has a reason to dance
The beautiful goal by Avi Rikan was his 4th league marker of the season and continues to close in on his total of 6 from last season.

Also interesting to note is that Rikan’s last two goals came as a substitute. Against Hapoel Beer Sheva his goal came 7 minutes after entering the contest and yesterday he improved on that mark scoring 4 minutes after coming in. Super-Sub.

Dan Glezer, the Maccabi Tel Aviv midfielder looked back at his side’s 4:1 win over Maccabi Netanya while also talking about the excitement of playing his former club:

“I always have a bit of excitement before a match against Maccabi Netanya because I had played there for a season and I really enjoyed it. I had a good season there and they gave me the chance to shine, so I’ll always be thankful for that. They gave us a tough time, but I’m happy we took the three points. We played well and scored some goals and I hope that this will continue.”

Scoring goals and keeping and trying to not concede:
“Even during the minutes when we didn’t play that well we knew how to not give up a goal and score when we were playing better. I’m happy that we scored the third goal in the second half and it’s too bad that we gave up a goal near the end of the contest because we wanted to keep a clean sheet but all in all I’m happy that we came away with the 3 points.”

Giving our all:
“The coach and professional staff prepare us for every game like it’s the State Cup Final and we can’t let up in our training sessions which are at a very high pace. The coach is always demanding that we give more and that includes the competition we have amongst the players for a place on the squad and that when we do play we give 100%. That makes us all want to play the best that we can and give it our all.”

Playing quality football and the desire to win every match:
“I’m happy that we continue to win and that we have a good gap between us and second place. But our goal is to go into every match and play quality football, win and continue to improve match by match. The coach never lets us take our foot off of the gas and we have a very hungry dressing room with a lot of younger players which is great this season.”

We are Maccabi Tel Aviv:
“We want to win every match. We are Maccabi Tel Aviv. We have players who have grown up through the youth system and they are hungry. We want to return the titles back to the club and give the best we can every single match.”