FCK manager previews Sheriff clash

F.C. Copenhagen manager Ståle Solbakken discussed Thursday’s upcoming Europa League match at FC Sheriff.

"Of course, we have been studying FC Sheriff carefully, both before they made changes to their team and after,” Ståle said.

“They have some strong individuals like, for example, midfielder Josip Brezovec and attackers Jairo and Mugosa.

“But, of course, we don’t know who they will start with tomorrow, there is also the young Damascan, who is the top scorer in the league at the moment.

“But we don’t meet as single players but as teams, and here they are primarily a strong unit.”

Both Sheriff and F.C. Copenhagen won by big margins in their domestic ties at the weekend.

But Ståle is not expecting a goal fest on Thursday evening.

"No, it will be a tighter match - a straightforward match,” Ståle said, reflecting also on the 0-0 draw with Lokomotiv Moscow in FCK’s first Europa League match.

"We were excited about the performance against Lokomotiv, and pleased with the result as well, but tomorrow is an away game and Sheriff are probably a little different and will want another kind of battle.

“It's only the second match in the group, so for us it's just about going out and delivering a good performance, and hopefully we'll get one or three points.

"I still think Lokomotiv are favourites to win the group, but we should progress as second place. At least our goal is to progress, but we will certainly get good resistance from the other teams.”