Recap: Maccabi Netanya vs Maccabi Haifa 5:1 (Sport1)
Maccabi Haifa secured its third consecutive championship win last night (Monday) by defeating Maccabi Netanya and in the last 103 hours the club's people have used almost every spare moment to celebrate the wonderful achievement of the season in which they participated in the Champions League. In between, the team's players are interviewed by the media, as did midfielder Mohammed Abu Fani, who went on the air on the <>FM sports program."Thank God after a very difficult, long and exhausting season, we achieved our goal of winning the championship," Abu Fani said at the beginning of his remarks, "We deserved to rejoice and enjoy this historic moment.
A very exciting moment for everyone. I'm glad we had a gap on the teams and after last year we lost to Maccabi Tel Aviv at home in the championship game, we did it on our own with a win."
Celebrating a championship and not thinking about going abroad, right now. Abu Fani (Photo: Bernie Ardov)
Abu Fani also said of winning the championship in the season they played in the Champions League: "It was a very fun and pleasant experience. The games were tough in the group stage, we competed against teams from the top of world football and we were not used to such a pace, but we showed good ability and represented Maccabi Haifa with respect - that was the most important thing for him. We enjoyed it, but it was a long and difficult process. Glad we did the job in the best way possible. We played against the best players in the world and obviously there was excitement, but we fought for every ball and didn't give them too much respect on the pitch. It was a dream for all of us to play against Messi, Neymar, Mbappé and Di Maria."
On the expected departure of Barak Bachar and his team: "It affected us in the dressing room, the crowd felt it too, but we took ourselves into our hands and wanted to have a sweet ending with them to end a wonderful period. We are the only team in Israel that has taken the championship in a season in which they participated in the Champions League, so we wanted to have such a milestone."
The possibility of him going abroad in the summer: "Every player aspires to go to Europe and succeed and obviously I want to too, but not at any cost and not for just any club. I grew up in Maccabi Haifa, the biggest club in Israel, and I won't go everywhere. I don't know if there's interest in me, I have an agent and I'm focused on celebrating the championship for now."
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Listen to the interview with Muhammad Abu Fani
On his explosion with national team coach Alon Hazan: "I have no idea what happened, I don't know how to explain and I don't understand. I'm a serious, professional person who tries to help the team in whatever framework I'm in. I don't understand why I'm not invited to the national team, but there is a professional manager and a coach who decide. I will do my best and they will decide what they decide."
In conclusion, he was asked about the war on racism: "It's a very ugly and disappointing thing that there is racism in football, fans who come to stadiums allow themselves too much and come to take out frustration on footballers and forget that behind every player there is a person with feelings. This is the ugliest and most disappointing thing in our society, and this thing must be condemned. Anyone who behaves racistly should be permanently banned, they have no place on the football field. In my opinion, any group that suffers from racist chants should get off the pitch, we need to put an end to it. It's also very influential and upsetting, anyone who hasn't experienced racism can't understand it."
- sport
- Israeli football
- League
Tags
- Maccabi Haifa
- Muhammad Abu Fani
