EU BET WE’RE UP FOR IT
JOHANN BERG GUDMUNDSSON
®Êby TIM ABRAHAM
JOHANN Berg Gudmundsson says Burnley have started to dream of the Europa League.
And in the process he has taken a swipe at critics who sneer at the competition.
Clarets boss Sean Dyche has played down his side’s hopes of qualifying for Europe, ahead of this today’s game at West Ham.
Burnley are currently seventh, a position which should secure a Europa League spot if the FA Cup winners finish in the top five.
It would bring European football back to Turf Moor for the first time since the 1966–67 Inter-Cites Fairs Cup.
Strong
The Europa League is seen as the Champions League’s poor relation, but Gudmundsson claims it would be great to bring continental football to the Lancashire town.
“It’s a real possibility and for a club like Burnley, going into the Europa League would be a fantastic achievement,” said the Icelandic winger.
“We will try to get more strong results before the end of the season and see what happens.
“It is something that, as a footballer, you certainly want to play in.
“It’s Europe and you want to test yourself against different teams. It’s definitely something that the players will be looking at.
“Since I came to England, the Europa League has not been viewed as a competition that you want to be in. It’s always been like that.
“But for a club like Burnley, to get into it would be another historic moment and another great achievement in what we’re building.”
Gudmundsson was part of the AZ Alkmaar team which twice reached the Europa League quarter-finals during his five years in the Dutch Eredivisie.
He says he improved as a player because of the chance to play in the competition.
“I enjoyed it when I was back in Holland; it was a fantastic learning experience,” he said.
“You go to different places, visit different countries, play against teams with different styles. “It’s a good experience and I’m definitely happy that I’ve done it. “It’s tough if you’re playing Thursday and Sunday. The demand on the Premier League is so tough that it can take a bit out of you. “It would be nice to qualify and hopefully we can do it. You never know because we have teams behind us who are playing good football as well. “We need to be at the top of our game if we want to keep this place.” Gudmundsson will be part of the Iceland squad that heads to the World Cup for the first time in the country’s history later this year. They are not expected to get out a group which includes Lionel Messi’s Argentina, Croatia and Nigeria.
But the 27-year-old admits he relishes the opportunity to fight against the odds – for club and country.
“At the start of the season Burnley were second or third favourites to go down,” he said.
“With Iceland, nobody expected us to knock England out at Euro 2016 – sorry to bring that up again!
“It’s nice to be the underdog and people like the underdogs. There’s always pressure in football but sometimes you go into games where you’re not expected to do a lot, so it brings more freedom.
“Even though we play against the big teams we’re not scared of them. We know we play the best football against the big teams.
“There are similarities with Burnley when you look at the performance against Manchester United and see how good it was.
“There was Spurs and Liverpool away as well, big clubs. They are tough teams and we’ll definitely take those examples into the World Cup.”