Hapoel Tel Aviv will face Katowice on Wednesday (19:00 Israel time) in UEFA Conference League third round, second leg qualifying. The Reds earned an impressive 2-0 victory in the first leg which was held at Hapoel’s home away from home in Miskolc, Hungary and will hope to finish the job and set up a playoff-round clash with Italy’s Serie A stalwarts Atalanta.

Ahead of the match, Hapoel Tel Aviv Head Coach Elyaniv Barda spoke about the upcoming match, “We have only completed one half of a competition between two excellent teams that are trying to play their best football. It will be a very difficult, very intense game, with Katowice’s fans behind them, but we will do our best.”

Barda added, “The previous game is history for us. What happened in it no longer matters as far as we are concerned; this game now starts at 0-0. We will be very well prepared for this match. It will be difficult because their home results are very good.”

The coach also spoke about preparations for the second leg, “It’s impossible to know how the game will develop. We will try to improve the things that weren’t good enough. We can play better than we did in the first leg. I believe we will do that very well.”

Hapoel Tel Aviv defender Doron Leidner also spoke about the test that lies ahead of the club, “We will face a very good and difficult team. We will have to give 100% to advance to the next round. We analyzed the game that was played and the game that is coming up, as we always do and we will do our best to improve.”