The Yellow-and-Blue ended the home portion of the Champions League Group Stages against Chelsea going down to defeat 4:0 at Sammy Ofer Stadium on Matchday Five. The coach Slavisa Joaknaovic discussed a number of items including Tal Ben Haim’s red card, the team’s improvement as well as the Champions League experience and playing against the English Champions Chelsea:

About the sending off of Tal Ben Haim:

“It was very complicated for us to play 11 v 11 against Chelsea and to play one man down made things even more complicated. I will not speak about the decision of his sending off.”

On the team’s improvement:

“Yes I have seen improvement. If you’ve seen our first game we’ve improved, they scored three goals at the end off of set pieces today. It’s a tough competition. We need to invest, but our market is very tight with only five foreign players to be more competitive we will need to do more.

The Champions League experience:

“It’s a great experience for me to be in the Champions League. I expect Maccabi Tel Aviv will play better next year in the competition and this is the first year back after 11 years. I’m very proud even though we lost 4:0 as we showed a lot of character and effort.”

Substituting off veteran Gal Alberman and captain Eran Zahavi late in the match:

“They are important players for us. I wanted to give them credit and the game finished a bit before that so I took them off with a few minutes left.”

On not making an earlier substitution:

“I have a good squad and we played a good game on the pitch, it was my decision not to make a substitution until later in the match even though we were a man down.”

Having the opportunity to play a team like Chelsea:

“Chelsea is a strong team on a different level and you can’t compare Chelsea to us. They have a great squad and a great coach and I’m sure they will improve. I was happy to have a chance to test myself and my squad against Chelsea today.”

Chelsea visited Maccabi Tel Aviv at Sammy Ofer Stadium on Matchday Five of the Champions League Group Stages in front of 29,121 fans on a cool November evening. The Yellow-and-Blue were in search of their first points of the competition and wanted to avenge a 4:0 loss on Matchday One to the defending Premier League Champions in London at Stamford Bridge.

 Yellow-and-Blue Head Coach Slavisa Jokanovic had a full squad available for the match and started the Serbian youngster Predrag Rajkovic in goal with a defense of Eli Dasa, Tal Ben Haim, Carlos Garcia and Omri Ben Harush. In the midfield the coach had veteran Gal Alberman, Dor Peretz and Nosa Igibeor just behind Avi Rikan, Tal Ben Chaim and captain Eran Zahavi.

 Maccabi Tel Aviv fired the first warning shot with a 2nd minute Peretz header just going over the bar to keep the match scoreless early on. Dasa’s 5th minute effort was wide of the goal and gave Chelsea more reason for concern about the home side’s counterattacks going forward. However, Chelsea started controlling the tempo with runs into the Maccabi box that forced the Yellow-and-Blue back on its heels.

 With the Chelsea pressure building, Maccabi gave up a 20th minute Willian corner kick that brilliantly met Gary Cahill’s head. His first opportunity was miraculously saved by Rajkovic but the second found the back of the goal to give The Blues a 1:0 away lead.

 As a result of the goal, Maccabi began to press for the equalizer, but Ben Harush’s 35th minute long range chance went over the bar. When all seemed settled in the midfield, a late challenge on Diego Costa by veteran central defender Tal Ben Haim went awry and he was shown a straight red card in the 40th minute. The foul resulted in Maccabi going a man down for the balance of the match with Ben Haim being unavailable for the final Matchday in Kiev.

 Coach Jokanovic made no substitutions to open the second half and moved Rikan to left back from the midfield with Ben Harush sliding over to his right to play as a central defender as things began to heat up on the pitch. Dasa had Maccabi’s first chance on goal in the 50th minute but Begovic was up to the challenge to maintain the slim lead.

 Maccabi was desperately in search of the tying goal and Rajkovic made sure to keep the score as is with saves on excellent opportunities by Eden Hazard and Cesar Azpilicueta. On the other end of the pitch Begovic was up to the challenge and made a gorgeous fingertip save from a scorching Zahavi strike in the 63rd minute.

 Just ten minutes later Chelsea doubled the score on a Willian free kick from the top of the box and added its third of the evening in the 77th minute with Oscar finishing off a Baba Rahman cross. Kurt Zouma put the final stamp on the match for Chelsea as his header off an Oscar corner kick found it’s way past Rajkovic ending Maccabi’s home Champions League campaign with a 4:0 defeat.

24 years have gone by since Maccabi Tel Aviv first played in the European Cup that has since turned into the Champions League. Avram Grant managed the team back then and eventually the Israeli coach became the first to coach a Premier League team and also guided Chelsea to the Champions League final.

 “I remember every minute of Maccabi’s first match in the European Cup. Maccabi had won the league title for the first time in 13 years but what really excited us all was the chance to be the first Israeli team to participate in the Champions League,” the now Ghana National Team coach Grant explained.

Maccabi Tel Aviv will face the English Champions at home on Matchday Five of the Champions League and Grant will be there. He was also at the first match at Stamford Bridge that Maccabi lost 4:0.

“In the first game, Maccabi was pretty excited and I was a commentator on English TV. Everyone kept asking me if this is what Maccabi always looks like,” Grant commented. “That match was a lesson for Maccabi at the highest of levels, but I don’t think Maccabi’s play against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge was indicative as to how they play and how they perform in the Champions League.”

“Chelsea, a wounded animal? I don’t believe in that.”

“From Chelsea’s perspective I don’t think the match at Sammy Ofer will be much different,” says the former coach of the two sides referring to the upcoming game. “They know that they are better than Maccabi Tel Aviv. However, they also know that in sports anything can happen unexpectedly.”

Jose Mourinho’s team is coming into the match after a 1:0 win over Norwich, but not even the Portuguese coach of the Premier League champions could have never expected such a poor start to the season. His club sits in 15th place, only five points away from Bournemouth in the relegation zone.

Which Chelsea can Maccabi expect to see?

“There are some saying that right now Chelsea is like a wounded animal, but I don’t believe in that. Better to face Chelsea in their current state then last year when they were playing at the top of their game. In any case they still have excellent players that can determine the outcome of the match. There’s no question that Maccabi couldn’t have asked for better time to play Chelsea at home, but it still won’t be easy.”

“Chelsea will come into this match looking to control the play and to win because they need a victory in order to advance to the next round,” Grant added, “They know that if they don’t win it will put them in even a more perilous situation especially with all of the pressure building up within the club. They will treat this match very seriously and control the tempo in order to do everything they can to win.”

What does Maccabi need to do in order to take a point?

“Maccabi must find the balance between marking the Chelsea players and damaging their confidence. I don’t think that I need to advise the coach what to do, but in general, right now when Chelsea are lacking confidence they can’t give them space to control the ball. They will also need to know when to attack and damage their confidence.”

What is Chelsea’s weak point?

“It’s no secret that Chelsea’s defense is weak and that they have given up a lot of goals. I don’t remember a time when they have given up so many, so Maccabi must attack in numbers at the right time to bring Chelsea’s defensive confidence even lower. Even the smaller Premier League clubs knew to do this and took points from Chelsea and this is exactly what Maccabi needs to do. This is also part of the lesson that Maccabi must learn as well. Maccabi achieved an amazing accomplishment by making it to the group stages and they play well, but I think that they need to try to do the maximum to get a good home result. For Chelsea, they need the points and if they don’t win in Israel it will be a heavy blow. Maccabi should take advantage of this.”

“The British have marked Zahavi as Maccabi’s key player”

“In Britain they are all taking about Eran Zahavi and they marked him as being Maccabi’s key player prior to the first match, and I still believe he’s the key player for this upcoming match,” said Grant who couldn’t hide his impressions about the Yellow-and-Blue captain, who just scored his 100th league goal on Saturday.

“What he did in the qualifying matches was extremely rare. He scored all of his club’s goals. Each goal was even more important important than the one before and that’s not something that can be taken lightly. He’s still the key player even though Maccabi must play an even more team game in order to stop Chelsea.”

Chelsea’s key player:

“In my opinion the key player is still Eden Hazard. Although he hasn’t been in top form he’s still the player who can make something from nothing, but besides that Chelsea have many good players at different positions.”

A first rate European team’s style when playing away:

“Teams like Chelsea come to take points. When I managed Chelsea we went into away matches like this one with the goal of getting a good result. At home we would put on a show. One of the reasons why we made it into the Champions League final is because we took points away from home. This is what the players learnt from mistakes in prior years. Of course, every team comes to put on a good show but one has to know that an away match is something different than at home and Chelsea understands this. This season Chelsea has had trouble playing away from home.”

Maccabi Tel Aviv is putting the finishing touches on their preparations for an encounter with Chelsea on Tuesday 21:45 at Sammy Ofer Stadium in Haifa. The captain Eran Zahavi spoke about trying to take points from the English Champions and more:

Opportunity to take points:

“We don’t have many more chances to take points but we have a chance tomorrow to give our fans something to cheer about and we know that it will not be easy, but we are coming in to win and to try and upset Chelsea.”

On the right time to play Chelsea:

“There is never a time that is better or worse to play a team like Chelsea. Our goal is to take some points and we have improved over the competition but Chelsea is looking to progress in the Champions League and it is not an easy task.”

Playing in London:

“I was recently in London on holiday and I’m happy in Tel Aviv. I want to wait for the right offer and right now I’ve received some, but it has to be the best for me, my family and the club. If a big offer comes be from a big team that would be great and you’ll know about it, but like I said I’m very happy and content in Tel Aviv.”

Slavisa Jokanovic spoke at the Champions League Matchday Five press conference prior to Maccabi’s last training session before facing the English Champions on Tuesday, 21:45 at Sammy Ofer Stadium. The coach discussed his goals, ambitions and keys to the match:

Last season Maribor surprised Chelsea in Slovenia:

“I remember this game last season when Chelsea played Maribor, but I don’t expect Chelsea to relax here in our stadium. This is an important game for them and I’m sure they have learned their lesson. It would be good news for us if this would be the case, but I don’t think so.”

On continuing to improve:

“We spoke many times about improving. We have improved but we must continue to do so. Are we satisfied if it’s just one goal and not get a point? Then no I won’t be satisfied. We will be more competitive.”

Keys of the match:

“The key will be to play solid defense and be more competitive and dangerous in the last third of the pitch. We are playing a very important team tomorrow and I expect we will see our best performance of the tournament to date.”

Chance to score some points:

“Maccabi Tel Aviv has two important games and if we score six points we have a chance to play in the Europa League this coming spring. For us it’s a very important day. I’m not worrying about Chelsea and their issues and I am concentrating on my team and my job. We will try to take what they will give us and right now it’s 0:0. We must find a way to get three points and it’s important for our supporters.”

The current goal:

“We haven’t finished our work yet in the Champions League and it’s an opportunity for our staff and our club to fight as hard as we can and win the game. I’m thinking about this target right now.”

On Chelsea’s struggles this season:

“Every season is a different year. Chelsea is the Premier League Champions. But remember a team like Dortmund had problems the year after they were in the Champions League final. I’m sure Chelsea will find their way back in the title hunt.”