Maccabi Tel Aviv plays FC Basel on Wednesday at 21:45 Israel time in the UEFA Champions League Playoff Round with the winner of the two-legged tie advancing to the group stages of the illustrious tournament

Prior to the first leg Philipp Degen, Basel's veteran defender who also was with the club the last time they played Maccabi answered some questions from the Official Maccabi Tel Aviv Website.

Q: How did you respond when you heard that Basel were drawn once again to face Maccabi Tel Aviv?

A. I was surprised about the fact, that the draw was again Maccabi Tel Aviv.

Q. It has been 18 months since you last met Maccabi Tel Aviv. How up-to-date are you about your Tel Aviv opponent?

A. At the draw I wasn't that up-to-date about the team as I didn’t think we would draw Maccabi again. But of course we will study and analyze the squad before the CL play-off game.

Q. What do you think of Maccabi Tel Aviv following the two previous meetings?

A. Maccabi is a really strong team to play against and we need to have two very good days to be able to beat them.

Q. Maccabi signed Avi Rikan from FC Zurich, one can assume that you played against him, what is your impression of him?

A. Avi Rikan is indeed a very good player.

Q. You played twice against Maccabi at Bloomfield and didn't win. What do you remember as far as atmosphere and weather conditions?

A. The weather conditions were quite hot. It was impressive to play at Bloomfield, how the fans of Maccabi supported their team and pushed the players forward.

Q. FC Basel beat Maccabi twice at St. Jakob Park. What kind of atmosphere should Maccabi expect in Basel?

A. Maccabi knows Basel and the stadium quite well, they know what they will expect.

Q. FC Basel underwent several changes in the past two years, what kind of Basel should Maccabi expect?

A. I think we are quite the same team as in the last two years, but just the squad is different.

For the third time in three years, Maccabi Tel Aviv will face FC Basel. There have been many Yellow-and-Blue supporters that have traveled with the club to Switzerland for one of the last two matches in Basel and of course this time around there will be many fans who will accompany the team yet again. For those who are making their first trip to the city, then read up bellow to find out the best of what to get out of your trip to Basel.

History and geography:

Switzerland has existed as a state in its present form since 1848, while a confederation of states has existed since 1291 when the three communities signed an agreement and completed an eternal covenant with the motto of "One for all, and all for one." The country has a current structure of 26 autonomous provinces that make up one country. Switzerland sits in the central-western part of Europe and borders on a number of countries including, Germany, France, Austria and Liechtenstein.  Due to the various provinces in Switzerland, the country has four official languages, German, French, Italian and Romansh which is a Latin language spoken in the south. Basel is located in the northern portion of the country, right on the Rhine River which is the second longest river in Europe. The city is on the border of France and Germany and is home to 180,000 people.

Culture:

Basel is one of the richest cities when it comes to culture. There are close to 40 museums and numerous exhibitions that the supporters can enjoy until the match. Starting with the Music Museum which is housed in a magnificent building that was at once a church to the Paper Museum where you can learn about the history of printing and the production of paper. There is also the Museum of Medicine which contains exhibitions of medicines from animals and plants from ancient times to the Basel Historical museum and of course a zoo. In addition, there is also the oldest university of Switzerland that can be found in Basel.

Carnival of Basel:

Every February the city hosts a carnival called "Basler Fasnacht" that lasts for three days as people from all around the world and the locals take to the streets of Basel in masks and costumes dressed as fantasy and gothic characters. Even though the carnival lasts for three days the residents of Basel spend the whole year preparing for it.

Jewish Perspective:

Any time you hear the word Basel, how can you not think of the famous picture of Theodor Herzl, the visionary for the State of Israel, standing on a balcony overlooking the Rhine River. The picture was taken at the Grand Hotel Les Trois Rois, the Three Kings Grand Hotel which is still one of the city's finest hotels that has renamed the first floor room 117 as "Herzl's Room". If you can't get into the hotel you can always visit the Jewish Museum where you can find Herzl's hand written letters and notes from the First Zionist Conference that took place in Basel.

Weather:

In Israel we are struggling with the heat and humidity, however visitors to Basel will have a very pleasant surprise. On Tuesday the high will be 22 degrees and the skies will be cloudy and on Wednesday make sure you bring an umbrella to the match as it may rain.

Useful Information:

The local currency is Swiss Francs (CHF) which is equivalent to roughly 3.92 NIS per Franc although many places will also accept Euros. The electrical outlets in Switzerland are not the same as in Israel, so there is need to bring a converter.

Maccabi departed for Switzerland for the first leg of the UEFA Champions League Playoff Round against FC Basel with the winner advancing to the group stages of the competition

The club will land in Basel during the afternoon hours and this evening there will be a press conference at 20:45 Israel time prior to the final practice which will begin 30 minutes later.

 The first leg will take place tomorrow, Wednesday night at 21:45 Israel time as Maccabi will attempt to advance to the playoff round of the Champions League for the first time in more than a decade.

 

Maccabi Tel Aviv's young 'keeper Haviv Ohayon is celebrating his 17th birthday. Ohayon, who just made his debut for the first team also participated in various football challenges including hitting a ball off of the crossbar and against Eran Zahavi. So enjoy his terrific strikes and don't forget to wish him a Happy Birthday!

 

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After Maccabi Tel Aviv lost the Champions Cup to Kiryat Shemona on penalties, midfielder Nikola Mitrovic spoke to the official website about the disappointment of losing in a penalty shootout and the upcoming Champions League Playoff matches against Basel.

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"Of course we are disappointed. Every game we play to win and today was a final and we were supposed to win, but we didn't deserve to win the match and in the end we lost the game. When you get to penalties it's all about luck. We should have finished off the game in the first 90 minutes and then we had chance to win it in 120 minutes but we just didn't do it."

 

The Serbian midfielder also looked ahead to the club's big match in Basel: "We need to try and forget this game and focus on the most important game coming up for us which is against Basel. Tomorrow is a new day and we will have to play much better. The first half will be in Basel and then we have the second half at home the following week. I know a lot about Basel as I've played a bunch of games against them already. They have a new coach and I've watched some of their games and they are a very good team."

Maccabi Tel Aviv defender Eitan Tibi spoke about the match against Kiryat Shemona and looked forward to the game in Basel.

"It's never good to lose a title especially to a team that I used to play for, but now we will have to get ready for Basel. I think we gave up goals that we shouldn't have but I don't think it's a problem with the defense. It's not a specific player but a team issue that we need to deal with.

Basel is a very good team and Maccabi Tel Aviv comes to win every game. We may have made a number of mistakes the last two matches, but we will come fresh to Basel and it's a totally new game."

Maccabi Tel Aviv Head Coach Slavisa Jokanovic spoke frankly about his team's display after losing the Champions Cup match on penalties to Kiryat Shemona.

"The team lost a very easy game today, we did exactly what they wanted us to do. We scored first, we had an extra player and Kiryat Shemona came back to win and deserved the trophy. We were soft defensively and didn't handle the crosses well. We gave up some easy goals and this is not the first time we have done this. I think the referee made the correct calls with the penalty retakes but Kiryat Shemona deserved the victory.

This was not the level we need to play for an important European game. If we play like this against Basel it will make things very complicated for us. Again, the team relied on Eran Zahavi who scored two goal, but we have to look forward to what we have in front of us now and get prepared for our next game."

Maccabi Tel Aviv will be taking on Kiryat Shemona on Saturday night 20:50 at the Netanya Stadium for the Champions Cup and midfielder Gili Vermouth had a chance to speak about the match, how the club will handle the extra European matches throughout the season and the new recruits Eli Dasa and Shlomi Azulay.

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“Yes, this is like another State Cup Final where we will have a chance to lift a trophy. Both teams are coming to this game to win and it should be interesting. Kiryat Shemona is one of the top teams in Israel and it should be a great game.”

Vermouth also discussed the fact that Maccabi will be playing more matches this season because of European competition: “There is no question that there is a lot of talk about Basel since we were drawn against them, but we have a very important game on Saturday and only after the match will we focus on the Basel game. Right now we are concentrating only on Kiryat Shemona and I’m sure that throughout the year we will have the good problem of having a lot of matches that we will have to prepare for as we’ll be playing in Europe regardless.”

Finally the veteran midfielder also mentioned how Maccabi’s new players are fitting into the club: “Shlomi and Eli are great guys. I know them a bit from the Israel National Team and at Maccabi everyone is always welcomed right away. I’m sure they’ll adjust very quickly and fit right in.”