Dnipro-1 head coach Oleksandr Kucher has revealed what he expects from the clash with Greek side Panathinaikos in the second qualifying round of the Champions League. It will be recalled that the rivals will play the first leg today in Kosice, and on Sunday they will play the return leg in Athens.
"This is the second European Cup season for us, but it is a different tournament - the Champions League qualifiers are probably the strongest team tournament in the world. For us, this is a new competition, for which we have been preparing, holding training camps. We have done everything we planned. I believe that we are approaching these matches in good condition.
Of course, the level of opponents we had at the training camp is lower, although I don't want to offend anyone, but this is the reality, because the Ukrainian championship and the Champions League are different tournaments. We made the most of what we could and set the boys up, although of course we did not face opponents from the leading football powers. But we set the guys up to be fully concentrated on these sparring matches, and they had to give their best, so that they could transfer it all to official matches.
We are maximalists. We need to win every match. But we had no experience of such matches before: neither I, as a coach, nor the players. So the main thing is to be calm, confident in ourselves and in our actions. The players have to do what we agreed on, so that they transfer all this to the football pitch, and of course, they have to have a desire to win, so that the fans can see that the players want to win. This desire will give them strength.
As for Panathinaikos, this team is very well balanced, experienced and has a good attacking line, where you can name everyone and every player is a threat to the goal, and any of them can solve the episode. They're a very good team and we need to be constantly attentive and responsible towards the opponent," Kucher said at the pre-match press conference.