Luhansk Zorya head coach Nenad Lalatovic has told what he expects from his team's first match against Slavia Prague in the play-off round of Europa League qualification, which will take place today in the Czech capital.
"We know that a very tough match awaits us. We saw it in Slavia's duels with Dnipro 1. Our opponent is a physically good team, works well in pressing. They run a lot without the ball. "Slavia" has not lost for a long time. Of course, we came to win. We have nothing to lose. In any case, we will play in the group round of European cups, but I would like it to be the Europa League (in case of failure in the confrontation with Slavia, Zorya will continue to play in the group round of the Conference League - ed.).
Slavia will be under a lot of pressure. "Zorya will try to play to the maximum. Slavia may be the favourite in our pairing, but nothing is impossible in football. Whoever wants to win more, will go further.
We told our guys to play calmly, that there is no pressure on us. Of course, the heroes are those who are now defending Ukraine at the front. But if we get a positive result, give positive emotions to our fans and defenders in this difficult time, we can also be heroes in our own sense.
It is important that we can finally play a match with the fans in the stands, it will be an additional motivation for our players. We will try to show our best game and win! We want to win every match, no matter if it is Slavia or Real Madrid.
Unfortunately, Nazariy Rusin will not play due to injury. Butko, Danchenko will be absent. With these players we would be 30 per cent better. But I believe in our guys. I do not want to single out anyone. We have a great team, ready to work for each other. I hope I will see it in the upcoming match," Lalatovic was quoted by the official website of Zorya.