July 21 - perhaps the most anticipated day for Lithuanians from Swedish days. It will be on Tuesday when it will become clear which of these teams - Vilnius "Žalgiris" or "Malmo" FF - will advance to the next stage of the UEFA Champions League qualifiers. On Monday, the Swedes also tested the new surface of the Lithuanian Football Federation stadium.
"It will not cause us any concerns. We have quite a few stadiums in Sweden with artificial turf. We are used to it. Our young players are 'born' on such turf, it is convenient for them," - Markus Rosenberg, captain of the "Malmo" team, did not hide his good mood.
The footballer said that the team arrived in Lithuania with a positive attitude. Although over the weekend in the "Allsvenskan" championship they again dropped points and for the second time in a row did not beat one of the league's underdogs, M. Rosenberg thinks that the team performed even better than in the match against "Žalgiris".
"In the match against 'Örebro' we failed to score three points, but we attacked a lot, were aggressive, and it was a much better performance than last week. We are not satisfied with our performance this year, but we are in the process of improvement and with each match we become stronger.
After last season, we changed a lot of players, and their adaptation took longer than we expected. However, I think we are on the right track now. We are full of energy and desire to go further in the Champions League, so I hope we will pass this stage," - said the attacker.
The team's head coach Age Hareide agreed with the player, stating that his team is simply craving victories, so he trusts his players and wants them to triumph in this qualifying stage.
"Now we already know the 'Žalgiris' team and know what to expect from them. Our main goal in Malmö was to keep our goal 'dry', as it gives us an advantage away. We are the team that usually scores the most goals in Sweden. That is our strength and the players know it.
However, in such matches, it is usually hard to concentrate on two things: scoring goals and not conceding them. Last year, we scored goals in the first matches in Salzburg and Prague, which gave us freedom at home. This time we would be satisfied with a 1-1 result," - said A. Hareide.
Feeling the abundant support in Sweden, "Malmo" players will once again face Lithuanian fans, who have already "grabbed" almost all tickets available for sale. However, M. Rosenberg is not worried about it. According to him, the Swedes also feel the support of their own fans in Lithuania.
"Tomorrow we will be supported by about 300 of our fans, so they will be very well heard," - said the "Malmo" captain.
The decisive match between "Žalgiris" and "Malmo" FF will take place on July 21 at 21:00.
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