After a 21-year absence without a league game between the two, Betar Jerusalem and Hapoel Jerusalem will go up tomorrow (Monday, 20:30) for a field derby at Teddy Stadium.
More than 12,000 Betar fans have already secured their arrival for the game and despite the uncertainty surrounding the club in the shadow of Moshe Hogg's expected departure, the team takes the derby seriously.
After training, coach Erwin Koeman commented on the game and said: "The team is ready, showing the right spirit for a game like this. Everyone shows they want to play against Hapoel in the derby. There are a lot of people from Betar who will come to this game, and we love it.
The atmosphere will be great and we need to prepare ourselves very well, and we know what situation we are in at the moment.
This is not an easy situation, and there is a lot of talk about everyone. "
The coach added to the recent rumors: "Everyone is happy to give their opinion and it's this world, but we have to focus on the derby, and that's our goal. We have to play the derby properly, it's our job and we have to focus on it. We can not be involved in everything that happens All around us, because we are football players, we are not the owner or the CEO.
We have to prepare and give everything to make our fans happy. "
On his personal experience in Betar and in Israel, he added: "I really like being here, I enjoy living in Jerusalem and it's fun to work here with the actors.
We have a hard time from the pre-season to now, but it is also related to injuries, new players who came late because of the isolations and training.
It is very difficult.
We also have suspended players.
You can say a lot of things, but everything drains tomorrow at 20:30 when the referee whistles the whistle to open the game. "
Itamar Nitzan, the Betar goalkeeper, added about his coach: "We are very excited, we are really looking forward to it.
Know what the importance of it is for the crowd tomorrow that will arrive at the stadium and the crowd at home.
There are a lot of butterflies in the stomach, and we hope to make a good result. "
On neutralizing the noise around, he said: "We have no other choice, as professionals we are committed to doing our job and neutralizing the external noise. We do not have too much influence on what goes on outside, we have an impact on the pitch and that is what we need to concentrate on."
On his future: "This is my fourth year at the club. I enjoy every moment here, it is a great honor for me to wear this shirt and for me as long as they give me the chance to play here I will be here."