Tabib missed him for grants • Cruyff and Ibich helped him get back to scoring in quantities • And in the locker room he is the man who cares for everyone, with no exception • Avi Riken has become one of the most important players in Maccabi Tel Aviv, but if he scores tonight against the ex Betar Jerusalem, he will not celebrate

• ignorant. It was no coincidence that he received the Captain's movie

  Photo:

  Alan Shaver

In the summer of 2013, Betar Jerusalem passed to Eli Tabib's hands. A few days before the deal was signed, the businessman invited him to a personal meeting with Avi Riken: "I'm going to take the team and want you to stay," he implored a long-time actor.
The financial offer that Riken received was not particularly winking, Maccabi Haifa and Maccabi Tel Aviv were in the picture, but what ultimately dropped the negotiations is not the salary but a Tibiv refusal to grant a grant for mountaineering to Europe and upper playoffs and car and apartment expenses - Riken quickly signed. T Zurich.

You can say that Betar Jerusalem missed Riken at the time, but did not give up. Even before these two meetings with Tabib, then-chairman Itzik Kornfein tried to convince Riken to sign a new contract, but he did not really have anything to offer the player financially , Because in those days the future of the Jerusalem Club was a haze.

Riken will meet Exx tonight as one of Maccabi Tel Aviv's key players, as part of the link trio alongside Dan Glazer and Eyal Golse, and if he scores against her, as happened in the past, he won't celebrate.

Nice. Not a tempting offer // Photo: Alan Shaver

Comes in Mani Time

Riken will close out five seasons in the Champions League this season and chances are the club will exercise the option he has on him. His data proves how influential the team is. This season he stands at three goals in all frames, despite missing a few weeks due to a serious injury to his eye following an elbow that went through one of the training sessions with Itai Schechter, "there was a danger of losing sight," he said in the past. The year before, he had scored eight league goals, and had scored nine goals in all frames.

In his first two seasons less empty has found the net - and that is a very simple explanation. Slavisha Yukanovich, Peter Boss, Schota Arbeldeza and Lito Vidigal most often placed him in the left guard position, where he is less expressed in terms of goals and cooking. Jordy Cruyff and Walden Ibich, in the last season and a half, have placed him mainly at the front link, as a playmaker, and from there he delivers the goods.

Despite Riken's gates and cooking, for some unclear reason he doesn't get too much appreciation in the media, but in Kiryat Shalom things are completely different. "My father is not a colorful player," a team analyst said. "He is not one of those who do hairstyles, tattoos, who have crazy dribbles, and maybe that's why they are less talked about in the media, but he has other advantages: good kick, second line, he can play In almost every position and all the coaches that were here let him play regularly - and with us only those who play well. "

Riken celebrates derby with his friends // Photo: Alan Shiber

Players in Maccabi tell Rick that he is "a player of big games." Want proof? This season he scored in the derby and the dramatic victory over Maccabi Haifa. Last season he scored in two games against Hapoel Bashar. Cruyuf scored two games against Betar Jerusalem, with the last goal in front of him being Barak Yitzhaki's retirement game, and in the previous season he found the net against Maccabi Haifa.

By the way, in the same game against the Greens he started with his goalie celebration, a kind of funny dance from side to side. In the past, he said that the same dance began as an inside joke with friends who would dance like that at various events, and after celebrating like this in front of the greens and receiving many messages from children who loved the celebration in question, decided to adopt it regularly.

Empty alongside Ibich. Coach knows how to get the maximum out of him // Photo: Danny Maron

My father will arrange

The Yellow Players not only enjoy Riken's abilities on the lawn, but also his daily behavior. Four seasons ago, Eran Zahavi and Gal Alberman approached the player and asked him to be responsible for their internal arrangements related to the team.

From that day, Empty became "a man moving things in the group," as evidenced by Kiryat Shalom. He is responsible for the Group Formation Evenings. He receives the tickets for the games and parking tickets and makes sure the players and their families receive them. When there is a financial penalty and you have to collect the fine for the club fund, it is his responsibility. And, of course, this year's flight to Oman with a large part of the yellow players he organized.

Riken, 31, is a father of two sons, Yarin and a colleague, still not thinking about the day after football, he has a few more good years to give.
When that happens, he'll probably want to retire in Kiryat Shalom or home and garden, but he has plenty of dreams right now - such as returning to the national team and winning the Maccabi Tel Aviv Championship, and the road to tonight's encounter against the ex, Sami Ofer.