Confident Besek expecting belief from his players

by Ayrton Galea - 10th July 2016

Head Coach Drazen Besek is expecting his players to believe that they could once again obtain a satisfactory result, regardless the name or strength of the opponents. He said this in view of next Thursday's first leg match of the second qualifying round of the UEFA Europa League against Heart of Midlothain.

The Stripes qualified for the second round of the UEFA Europa League thanks to a goal in each half to edge out the Bosnian side of NK Siroki Brijeg with a final 3-1 aggregate score, following a 1-1 draw in the away match. This was the first time ever that a Maltese Club passed a round in two successive years in the UEFA Europa League.

Coach Besek opened by saying, “Results in football are the most important thing, so we must be satisfied by passing to the next round. However, our satisfaction must be bigger because the good result was accompanied with a good performance of the team.

He added, “This is a historic success for the Club and with constan success you continue improving the image of the club. With games in Europe you can get more widespread experience for the Club and the players.”

The Stripes will be facing Heart of Midlothain, after the latter eliminated the Estonian team of FC Infonet, with a 6-3 aggregate victory. Having struggled win 2-1 at home, they had a more convincing display to lead 3-0 at half-time, and went on to win the match with a 4-2 score.

Coach Besek is aware of the strength of our next opponents. However he is expecting no fear from his players, “We should respect our opponents but during the match, nothing should impress us. I'm expecting belief from my players that we can once again achieve a good result regardless the name and the quality of our opponents.”

Unlike the first round, the first-leg will be played at home but for the Croatian Coach this makes no difference at all. “I prepare for the game the same way, wherever we play. We have to concentrate only about our ability on how to be better and more effective.”

He concluded this interview by saying “The result obtained is the unity of the team, staff, supporters and everyone involved. We have great supporters and I expect them to cheer for us in great numbers, and that would be a great advantage for us. We will try to repay them with maximum commitment.”

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