Maccabi Tel Aviv will host side Lugano on Thursday in Batumi, Georgia in the decisive second leg of the Conference League playoff as they trail 2-1 from the first meeting. Head coach Kenny Miller shared his thoughts ahead of the match, addressing the congested fixture schedule and the enormous importance of the yellow-and-blue supporters who will be there to back the team.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re coming into the game in a very good place, especially after the excellent performance and very good result we achieved in the league last Sunday,\u201d Miller began. \u201cWe learned a great deal from the first game last week. Being 2-1 down after the away leg is not a bad result for us, although we were disappointed with the final result and the goals we conceded there. We feel ready, we\u2019ve prepared well and we\u2019re really looking forward to tomorrow\u2019s game.\u201d<\/p>\n
The coach was asked about the limited time available for the staff to prepare the team, \u201cThe schedule over the past few weeks has been extremely busy, with very quick turnarounds between the Toto Cup, league matches and European games. That said, we\u2019ve had enough time to make sure we\u2019re fully prepared. We only faced Lugano a week ago, so we know the opponent standing in front of us very well and understand exactly what we need to do better on the pitch.\u201d<\/p>\n
Regarding the squad situation, Miller said, \u201cWe still have a number of injured players who will be unavailable, but the situation is no different from what we dealt with last week. We\u2019re coming into the game in good shape, following a very strong performance at the start of the week, and ready to do everything we can to win this match.\u201d<\/p>\n
Miller also addressed the expected return of Maccabi\u2019s supporters to the stands in Batumi, \u201cIt\u2019s true that this isn\u2019t Bloomfield Stadium and that\u2019s something we\u2019ve had to accept and get used to throughout our European campaign this season. But it will be great to have our fans back with us. Even in the match against Sheriff, the supporters who came made the stadium feel much more like home and created a real football atmosphere with their noise and support. I keep saying that we never take that support for granted, the effort they make and the journeys they go through to support the team are exceptional. Their support will be crucial for us.\u201d<\/p>\n
To conclude, the coach emphasized the magnitude of the occasion, \u201cOf course, we have a great opportunity here to secure qualification for the league phase of a European competition. Every single player in the squad understands exactly what is at stake and we\u2019ll be ready for the challenge.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Maccabi Tel Aviv will host side Lugano on Thursday in Batumi, Georgia in the decisive second leg of the Conference League playoff as they trail 2-1 from the first meeting. Head coach Kenny Miller shared his thoughts ahead of the match, addressing the congested fixture schedule and the enormous importance of the yellow-and-blue supporters who […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":185720,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[4],"class_list":["post-189302","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-football-israel-2","tag-maccabi-tel-aviv","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"yoast_head":"\n