The Vice President of the Tel Aviv District Court Eitan Orenstein ruled on delaying the penalty that was given to Predrag Rajikovic. The ruling will allow the Serbian keeper to play in this evening’s match against Hapoel Beer Sheva as the case will now be heard following the season.

Below is a copy of the District Court’s decision from the judge who decided to reject the Israel Football Association’s court request to cancel the delay in the keeper’s penalty.

Everything is ready for tonight’s Match of the Year. Tel Aviv versus Beer Sheva, Maccabi against Hapoel, Yellow-and-Blue take on the Reds at Bloomfield. Dor Micha, Maccabi Tel Aviv’s attacking midfielder spoke to the Official Maccabi Tel Aviv Podcast, Maccabi-Cast about this evening’s big clash, what we can all expect and the support he received from the fans in Saturday: “I’ve been part of Maccabi for many years and I can tell you that I have never seen anything like this is my life not even when we won the championship. It really gave us a tremendous boost.”

On the atmosphere surrounding the club over the past week:

“It’s gotten us to come together as a group. I don’t want to talk about who is for us and who is against us. We have one goal and we will do anything and everything for us to reach that goal for us and for the fans. There’s no question that everything comes down to this match. This is do or die and we have to win. We are in good shape and we’re playing at home. Everybody knows how important Bloomfield is for us.”

These are the critical moments of the year:

“It hasn’t been a regular week but I can tell you from experience that these types of challenges always bring out the best of us. Over the past few years we have had money time moments and it always brings out the best in us and I’m sure that is what will happen now.”

His relationship with the former coaches:

“My relationship with the various coaches never got off to a great start, but with Peter it has been a totally different story. He believed in me from the beginning and it’s continued to this day. I believe that I’ve started in every match since he’s been in charge and he’s the first coach who gave me the confidence from the start which is something that hasn’t happened to me in the past. Perhaps his attacking style and the fact that he enjoys creativity has helped me. Other coaches may have been scared about my size but at the end of the day I ended in good relations with every one of them and they liked me.”

The criticism that Tal Ben Chaim received over the last few weeks:

“I agree with Tal because he always comes away with the stigma of being the provocateur. If it was someone else the reaching would never be as it is. We stand behind him 100% and we all would have done the same exact thing. These are our instructions are from the coaching staff. He’s a great guy even though he has a short fuse. During training we also have to calm him down a bit as he gets heated up very easily and quickly, but that’s also how he calms down as well. He’s one of my best friends.”

About the psychological warfare:

“We as players don’t get into the whole psychological warfare bit. We know what we are worth and what we can do on the pitch. Last match against Beer Sheva we played well and it definitely gives us an air of confidence coming into this evening’s match.”

His message to the fans:

“We need our fans to be with us as strong as they can be just as they have been in the past. They are always with us and I believe they will be with us also tonight.”

Please note that this Maccabi-Cast was recorded prior to the Tel Aviv District Court decision concerning Predrag Rajikovic.

 

The Tel Aviv District Court rendered the decision to delay the three match penalty imposed on Predrag Rajkovic by the Israel Football Association Disciplinary Court.

Maccabi Tel Aviv CEO Martin Bain said in response to the decision: ” Maccabi Tel Aviv has today received the District Court’s decision which  delays the penalty on Predreg Rajkovic imposed by the Disciplinary Court of the IFA. We will follow future proceedings with interest”.

Gal Alberman, the Yellow-and-Blue defensive midfielder addressed the press prior to club’s crucial WINNER League match at Bloomfield Stadium tomorrow evening at 20:55. Number 6 talked about their keeper Daniel Lifshitz, the importance of winning the title and the “The Match of the Year”:

“Our team is very special. We are together, one for another and for each other and we have an amazing fan base. When we get onto the pitch tomorrow we will hear the crowd and we know that they are behind us. I also know what we want and what the team, the club and the fans expect from us. It really doesn’t bother me what others think. We have to win tomorrow.”

The club’s offense:

“We were able to cut the gap with Beer Sheva and then we lost a couple of points over the last few matches. We are in good shape and have been playing well. We have scored the most goals in the league and have an advantage in goal differential that we may need. We will have to see where we stand after the match tomorrow.”

Giving up a goal:

“We aren’t thinking about giving up a goal here or there. One goal won’t decide the whole season. If we give up or score a goal we have to keep pushing.”

Expectations for the match tomorrow:

“Most teams play the counter attack against us and we don’t know what our opponent will do against us tomorrow. We can’t worry about them and we’ve seen the counter attack against us all year o we are used to it.”

The club’s experience in these types of matches:

“We have been in very important matches the past few years be it the State Cup Final or the Champions League qualifiers, we know how to handle these types of situations and we are focussing on tomorrow’s game.”

The importance of winning the title:

“I want to win this year like I’ve never won before. This is like our first ever title. We want to win. It hasn’t been this close the past few years but we are up for the challenge.”

On Daniel Lifshitz playing goal:

“You’re not talking about a young keeper. He may not have played for the top clubs, but he has played in many matches and is a veteran. He is vey string mentally and knows that we are behind him and everything will be fine.”

Peter Bosz, the Yellow-and-Blue’s Dutch coach is well aware that his team is playing in the proverbial “Match of the Year” against Hapoel Beer Sheva at Bloomfield Stadium, Monday 20:55. The boss discussed the pressure coming into the match along with the match plan for tomorrow and his expectations:

“Tomorrow is an easy game. The only good result is when we win and that’s what we will try to do tomorrow. A draw or a defeat is not good for us. It’s simple.”

The plan for the match:

“By playing our own game. If you look at this season we lead the league in goals. In between the league games we didn’t score but we scored 3 goals against Sakhnin in the Cup. We had a lot of chances over the course of the last few games and we had many chances, eight alone in the first half and seven in the second half against Sakhnin in the League game. I’m not worried about two games without scoring.

Dealing with the pressure:

“These are the games that I loved to play as a player. It’s money time. The stadium will be sold out and the stadium will be packed with fans standing behind us. I don’t feel the pressure, I’m excited.”

The momentum coming into the game:

“I know that my team is in fantastic shape as I see them every game and every practice. If we analyze the matches we see that we had chances, we created chances and had many chances to score. Barak hit the post and missed by inches. Hopefully tomorrow he will get it a few inches the other way.”

About Daniel Lifshitz starting in goal tomorrow:

“He played in the Cup for me a few times and I see him every training session. He is not only a fantastic person but a great player. Tomorrow he will be able to grab the opportunity.”

On the Rajikovic issue:

“I didn’t see the incident that started everything, but in general I knew what happened and I said that these types of things must never take place on the football field and these things can never take place at a football match. The Sakhnin people should never have touched our players as well as their security.”

Injury status of the players:

“Everyone is in good shape and Tal Ben Chaim along with Haris Medunjanin are 100% fit. Tal Ben Haim hasn’t been training but made some important steps. Nosa Igiebor has been training with the team the whole week and Omri Ben Harush took part in yesterday’s session.”