Celje, after two painful European defeats, begins its quest for history in Armenia, Albert Riera says: “Show the true face and go for the win”
Photo: Urban Lesjak
Exiting the Champions League qualifiers was painful, and exiting the Europa League qualifiers was even more so. If Celje had beaten Shamrock, which wasn’t impossible, they would have already secured their autumn in Europe. Now, Štajers will try to confirm their historic achievement against Pyunik, which will be anything but an easy opponent. Armenians have a high-quality squad, with foreigners leading the way, but Albert Riera remains optimistic.
“On Thursday, we have the opportunity to make up for the impression we left in Ireland against Pyunik. Football is not played on paper; from the start, we must show our true face and go for the win,” said Albert Riera in Yerevan, where the match will start at 6:00 PM Slovenian time.
Riera: “This is the pressure we want”
The Spaniard continued: “We have been together for twenty days. We are slowly succeeding in conveying the desired information to the team. We are progressing day by day. We want a good result in the first match, but we must know that this is just the first part of the tie, and no result will decide it this time. This is the first part of the final. There are many games, the legs are heavy, but I told the players whether they want to play one game a week or if they prefer to play two games including Europe. This is the pressure we want.”
The atmosphere in the dressing room was described by Nino Kouter at the pre-match press conference: “The mood in the team is really good, although we have some injury problems. In the match against Olimpija, we came back twice and showed character, as well as many good things within the game. We are well-prepared for the match and on Thursday we want to deliver a good performance. Pyunik is a good team that secured a play-off spot through qualifiers, and we have our plan for this match.”
As previously reported, Albert Riera will have a very limited squad for the first match, with only 16 players traveling, mainly due to injuries and also due to a purge that has been ongoing in the princely city.
This text was automatically translated using AI.
Author: editorial Football Planet
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