S. Vrevenas: "I hope for a very tough match"

2024-07-16 09:47 © fk Panevezys

The football club "Panevėžys" will play the second leg of the UEFA Champions League first qualifying round this week. The people of Panevėžys are facing a tougher challenge against Helsinki HJK.

Before Monday's training session, "Panevėžio" head coach Stijn Vreven shared his thoughts with the fk-panevezys.lt website. According to the Belgian strategist, the team cannot relax - a much tougher battle awaits them than last week.

"I will repeat what I said after our home game. I expect a very difficult match. Of course, it is better to win the first match 3-0 than to lose 0-3. However, I think HJK is a very good team that can play very well. They did that against us, but the circumstances were in our favor. If we work as hard as we did last week in the home game, we may succeed - then we scored beautiful goals, stood out with a fighting spirit. I am sure that we cannot let our guard down if we want to be successful on Tuesday. If the level of energy, fighting spirit, and ball quality is lower, we will not play in the next round.

It's good that we had a week to prepare. Ariagner Smith still cannot help the team and we have Cheikhou Dieng suspended. Everyone can play. We certainly analyzed the previous match well, what was good and what was lacking. We must not forget that the opponents will play at home on artificial turf, so I expect tough matches. It is normal to play at this level, it is never easy," said the "Panevėžys" manager.

After having breakfast in Panevėžys, the team traveled to Riga, from where they quickly reached Helsinki by flight.

The journey was great. We traveled easily from Panevėžys to Helsinki, - said S. Vreven. - We have a good hotel and there is nothing to complain about. From this perspective, there is no reason to perform poorly on Tuesday.

The second leg match between HJK and "Panevėžys" clubs will take place on Tuesday, July 16. The start of the clash at the "Bolt" arena is 19:00, broadcasted on DELFI TV.