Slovenia’s football champions arrived in Israel two days ago. In case NK Maribor fails to overcome Hapoel, it will still play in the Europa League. Coach Darko Milanič is resolute: "We have to focus on our game, and do everything we can to get a good result ahead of the return match. Playing in Europe doesn’t interest me, I want to take my team to the Champions League."
The grass pitch and balls are different
"We’re on our final step in fulfilling our dreams, but we face a demanding task, a hot atmosphere at our away game, a difficult trial. Our aim is to win, and we will have to put a lot of effort into it. Apart from the fact that it will be very hot, I remember that the grass pitch is a bit different, as are the balls. We want to prepare for the match really well, and that’s why we departed earlier than normally," explained Milanič.

To get through the first 20 minutes
That the team scores at least one goal is also the wish of defender Mitja Viler: "If I’m honest, before we started preparing for the new season I didn’t expect us to reach the play-off, so that’s why we’re going into this match with a positive mindset. The main thing will be to score a goal. We will try win the match. We will position ourselves in a more defensive formation. If we, as the visiting team, get through the first 20 minutes, the home team will start getting nervous and that’s when we’ll try to score through counter-attacks, to make it easier for ourselves in the return match."

Eiminated Olympiacos last year
NK Maribor has one Israeli in its team, Marwan Kabha. The team discussed their next opponent with Kabha. "Kabha speaks very well about Hapoel, as if they were Real Madrid, but we’ll see. In their statements so far you can sense that they’re underestimating us a bit. But I did watch the team play last year, when they first eliminated Olympiacos, and then beat Inter twice. So there must be some truth in their statements."

S. J., MMC; translated by K. J.