[ad_1]
By James Rogers
Dundalk manager Stephen Kenny encouraged his players to dream of their Europa League match against AEK Larnaca tonight
The Lilywhites boss believes that the Cypriots , who beat Cork City 1-0 in both legs at this stage last year, are the favorites to move to the next stage of the competition, where the winners will play the losers of the Champions League match between Ajax and Sturm Graz. Ajax won the first round 2-0 in Amsterdam last night
Kenny thinks that dreaming of an outing at the Amsterdam Arena or at Liebenauer Stadium next month can be an additional motivation before their meeting with the club Andoni Iraola
"I would say that you allow you to dream and think about the possibilities if you win. It must be a motivation.
"We respect Larnaca, they have had great victories in Europe in recent years, but we have to focus on our own game."
"We obviously know their strengths, and we understand that they have good players but we too, they beat Spartak Moscow and Dinamo Minsk but we also beat BATE Borisov and Maccabi Tel-Aviv, so we do not feel inferior in this respect, "he said.
Kenny also defended the decision The league match was led by Sligo Rovers, insisting that this had given his team a better chance to get ready for tonight's game.
"Because we do not know the players tactically, people say why you would cancel, that you can easily play on Sunday and play on Thursday, but unless you are involved and understand the level of preparation. necessary, it would reduce your chances by half when playing on Sunday.
"It's not just about recovering and playing. We try to beat teams that are above us. They did not have to play in the first round. They automatically went to the second round
"We play against international players, many of whom played in La Liga, so we will have to go up the levels."
"I sympathize with Sligo because it's a great club and they've had no matches in 11 weeks, but we're only a week away from this problem.
John Mountney is a doubt for the Louth men with a groin problem Patrick McEleney is available for the first time since the beginning of the month
AEK Larnaca is deprived of several key players including captain David Catala, last season's top scorer, Florian Taulemesse, Brazilian defender Igor Silva, Montenegrin international midfielder Vladimir Boljevic and Cypriot international trio Marios Antoniades, Vincent Laban and Onisiforos Roushias
Kenny is aware that there are many more threats in their ranks.
"Many of their players have a lot of appearances in La Liga. (Jorge) Larena has 100 games for Atletico Madrid. (Ivan) Trickovski has had a very good career in Macedonia and is a good midfield scorer so he is obviously an important player for them as well, "he said.
[ad_2]
Source link
