The champion will face Salzburg tomorrow in the Europa League playoffs without much expectation • Hopefully zero new contenders in the upcoming Corona test • On the professional side: Defender Maor Kandil has returned from suspension and may start in the squad instead of Ben Bitton
Maccabi Tel Aviv players, before takeoff. Think mainly about health
Photography:
Courtesy of Maccabi Tel Aviv
Maccabi Tel Aviv took off this morning for Austria, ahead of tomorrow's rematch against Red Bull Salzburg, in the playoffs of the Champions League. The Yellows took off without 11 team players who were infected in Corona, with the last one diagnosed positive being Tal Ben Haim.
In Austria, the Yellows are due to undergo another corona test and hope the answers will be negative.
In light of the limited staff, the youth players joined the trip: Niv Berkowitz, Tomer Alon and Rotem Yitzkar.
Brakeman Shahar Phiben, who returned to training last week after a long injury, also joined the flight to Austria.
Since the beginning of the infection in the team, a total of 20 positives have been recorded for the corona virus, 11 players and another 9 staff members.
"We will fight like in a world war, but whatever happens," said one of the Maccabi players, where there are not too many expectations to surprise the Austrians.
Professionally, coach Giorgos Donis will get back defender Maor Kandil, who missed the last game due to a dismissal penalty and may start in the squad at the expense of Ben Bitton.
Matan Balteksa may replace Ophir Davidzada, who is infected.
Meanwhile, after the game against Salzburg, the Yellows are supposed to pick up gear in their attempts to add foreign reinforcement players.
One of the candidates is striker Sergio Araujo, a Las Palmas player, but this is a very expensive deal, even if the outline is on loan, so the Yellows will have a hard time getting their hands on it.
A report in "Marca" claims that the Spanish team is building on the striker professionally and will therefore not respond to offers he has.