HJK will face Spanish Real Betis in their opening match of the Europa League group stage. You can listen to the match live on talk from 19:40.
Heikki Ali-Hokka,
Hinn Hirvonen
Helsinki Football Club will start its Europa League group stage on Thursday with a home match against the Spanish Real Betis. For support, the Club receives the sold-out Töölö football stadium.
Betis, along with the Italian giant AS Roma, is the biggest favorite to win the group. Last season, the Sevilla team celebrated winning the Spanish Cup and ended the season in fifth place. In the Europa League, Betis played in the same group with Bayer Leverkusen, Celtic and Ferencváros and advanced to the playoffs as second in the group. It only dropped in the quarter-finals, when Frankfurt, who finally celebrated the victory in the Europa League, was better with a total of 3-2.
Now Betis is fourth in the country’s main league after four matches. It experienced its only defeat of the season last Sunday, when the reigning Champions League winner Real Madrid was stronger at home with a score of 2-1.
– It is clear that we have to be at our best in everything we do. Our best players must play at their maximum and we must succeed as a team. We always play for the result. Everything is possible in futsal, HJK’s head coach Toni Koskela comment below the match.
Despite the big challenge, Koskela also had enough faith in himself.
– Even though we have a good team against us, even at that level (in the Spanish league) goals come from relatively easy mistakes. We don’t have to re-invent basic things, but do them at a faster pace and succeed in rare moments. We won’t get ten places tomorrow, but with the basics we can definitely hurt them.
HJK has suffered from injuries, but according to the head coach, the team’s injury situation is “starting to be excellent”.
On Monday, in the local match against HIFK, he left the field after more than an hour Paulus Arajuuri is in order according to HJK’s website. Those who were on the sidelines from the HIFK match Atom, Aapo Halme and the captain Miro Tenho are also available for coaching.
Joona Toivio returned to the field after the injury at the end of the SJK match, and played the full 90 minutes on Monday against HIFK. Having broken his ribs in a local match Bojan Radulovic and recently had her first child Perparim Hetemaj’n playing is uncertain. They are definitely on the sidelines Manuel Martic, Roope Risk, Valtteri Moren, Fabian Serrarens and Janne Saksela.
HJK captain Tenho said that many players are waiting for the best games of their careers.
– For those who played in the Conference League last year, it certainly left a hole in their teeth that we didn’t get the results we wanted as a team. Now we are a bit more experienced. In the Europa League, the level of the teams is clearly rising. It’s not every day that you can say that as a Finn you get to play against Roma, Betis and why not Ludogorets too.
However, the captain also had enough faith in himself.
– We don’t just go to participate. We want to be able to challenge these teams with our own work.
“You have to get used to artificial grass”
Like HJK, the Spaniards also have a backlog of matches. The team faced Real Madrid on Saturday and will play against Villareal on Sunday. A week from now, on Thursday, it gets to play in the Europa League at home, when it faces Bulgarian Ludogorets.
Real Betis will start the match without their French midfield star Nabil Fekir, who was injured in the match against Real Madrid. The head coach Manuel Pellegrini according to Fekir, due to a muscle injury, he will be sidelined for three to four weeks.
– We have a wide circle, we have had to play without Fekir before. It is not certain that he would have been at the opening anyway. We have many series that we play. We cannot go behind the absence of any injured player, Pellegrini said.
The Spanish media speculated that the Portuguese midfielder William Carvalho would also be on the sidelines, but the Betis pilot dismissed the claims.
– He is in the lineup and available.
One of the most talked about topics under the Europa League is related to the platform. Many of Europe’s big clubs are not used to playing on artificial turf. HJK, on the other hand, was not willing to move their home matches to the neighboring Olympic Stadium.
– Artificial grass is something we have to get used to. You can see it elsewhere to an increasing extent, Pellegrini acknowledged.
A Betis icon Joaquin was on the same lines.
– The field is certainly difficult, but you just have to get used to it. It’s been years since I played on artificial grass. But you can’t hide behind it.
During the press conference, the Chilean pilots were also asked about Monday’s events. The local match between HJK and HIFK had to be stopped for a while due to the disturbance of the supporters.
– This is reprehensible. These do not belong in football, they cause harm to the sport. I have seen the match and I know what happened on Monday, Pellegrini acknowledged.
Even though Betis will go into the match as huge favorites, Pellegrini reminded that the match has not been played yet.
– Matches must be won on the field and played for the full 90 minutes. HJK is a physical team. We have to defend well.