Valletta out to foil Kukes’ progress
Malta champions Valletta will be going all out to foil further progress into Europe's most elusive UEFA Champions League competition from their more illustrious opponents, Albanian champions FK Kukesi.
After a more than deserved goalless draw in Albania a week ago, the Malta champions will again go head-to-head with the Albanian champions in a decisive encounter as to who progresses further into the competition.
Ahead of the important second leg, Gilbert Agius, Valletta's assistant coach led his team's press conference and training session in the absence of the indisposed head coach Danilo Doncic.
"I am really not surprised to hear that we surprised them during the first leg in Albania. As you know FK Kukesi are quoted higher than we are but yes they did not expect the way we performed on their own soil.
The second leg today will be another matter. I believe that we do not have to give one hundred per cent of our efforts but more than that in order to qualify.
We also know much more now about our opponents than when we played them a week ago due to the fact that we have studied the way they play through the match video, etc.
We are very happy with our performance because everyone knows how difficult it is to get "real" competitive friendlies during pre-season. But we are all happy with the way things have gone during our pre-season and our good performance in Albania in the first leg. We all believe in this nucleus of players and we are confident to finish the job and progress further in this competition because we are Valletta FC"
Agius also confirmed that bar minor injuries the players are well prepared both physically and mentally for this big match.
Captain Ryan Camilleri also spoke about the good result obtained in Albania.
"To be honest it is a very good result, but we deserved better. We have a good blend of local and foreign players and this drives us to believe that we can do it in this second leg."
Asked if the kick-off time (18:00 hours) and the venue (Centenary Stadium) could be a deterrent for Valletta, captain Ryan Camilleri confirmed that he would obviously preferred playing at the National Stadium and at a later kick-off time. "That would have been my preference, but the heat and the venue will be there for both teams. That is how it is. We were not really happy with the pitch during the first leg, but still we got a good result"
Since the first leg last week, the Albanian champions have fired their coach, German Peter Pacult replacing him with Albanian Armando Cungu, who takes over for his second stint with the Kukesi FK club after managing the same club from July 2012 to October 2013.
Asked if Valletta took the Albanian champions by surprise in the first leg he admitted that this was the case.
"Yes we were surprised in a certain way because Albanian football is on a higher note that that of Maltese football so first we have got to respect our opponents and then the next step is to progress because this is what we came here for. We are not under pressure despite the goalless draw in the first leg, but from that match we have studied well Valletta and our objective is that of qualifying for the second round."
The new Kukesi FK coach also reminded that he visited Malta as a player with Teuta Durres in 2002 in the now abolished UEFA Intertoto Cup competition. Ironically they played Valletta and managed a 1-2 aggregate win, with Gilbert Agius scoring the only Valletta goal here in Malta.
The match will kick-off at 18:00 hours and is being played at the Centenary Stadium, at Ta' Qali.