Maccabi Tel Aviv were satisfied tonight (Thursday) after the smooth victory in Azerbaijan that brought them significantly closer to the next stage in the Conference League qualifiers. The Yellows defeated 0: 3 in an arena in Baku and are on the safe path to the third round, where they will probably play against Aris Thessaloniki. The Greek team defeated the Belarusian rematch 1: 5 tonight and just like Maccabi Tel Aviv – it is in fact in the next stage.
Coach Vladan Ivic rejected the compliments and said after the game: “I did not play fantastic football. We came to win and achieved our goal. We are not at our peak yet, but as a team we played well today and with a serious attitude. Even an arena is still far from a peak.”
The Serb added: “This is the beginning of the season and I do not want to make comparisons to last season. There is a good team here. There is a rematch and we have to prepare for it seriously. In football everything is possible. We will reach the rematch with maximum concentration and with a goal to achieve a good result.”
Gabi Kanikovsky, who scored the first and cooked up one of his two goals for Georgia Juvanovic, said: “We wanted to start well and we did it. The mission is not yet complete, there is another game and we hope we succeed in it. I hope the crowd will come and push us because we “We need him and he’s our back. It’s very fun to score, especially because it helped the team. Anyone who watched TV probably thinks it’s a beautiful stadium and everything, but it was tough weather here with a strong wind. I’m glad we were able to overcome it and win.”