EUROPA LEAGUE
BILLY REID has earned rave reviews as a rap artist and being a ballet dancing star in Swan Lake.
But the Ostersund assistant boss believes the stage is now set for his greatest performance yet by helping his tiny Swedish club knock Arsenal out of the Europa League. Any hint of shyness from the former Hamilton boss has been overcome by performing in culture workshops as part of his No.2 role with his Allsvenskan shock troops. After being paired with Arsene Wenger’s side in the last 32, Reid said: “We’ve had big clubs visiting us in Europe this season, the likes of Galatasaray, Athletic Bilbao, Hertha Berlin and PAOK, so we believe at home we can beat Arsenal. People will no doubt scoff at that but it’s what we believe.
“That positivity is based on being at home. We aren’t going to come out and say we are going to win the tie over two legs. It would be silly to say that.
“But what we will say is that at home we expect to beat Arsenal. That’s just the way it is.
“During the six home games in Europe we’ve had five clean sheets, so why shouldn’t we be confident of getting a result?
“I don’t know how many Scottish people have seen us play but how we play has revolutionised Swedish football. For a club of our size to achieve what we have in a first season in Europe has been incredible. But the bigger thing has been winning games in the fashion we have.”
There is a huge hurdle to be overcome as Ostersund have been put into cold storage with their domestic season finishing last month.
Reid is already putting contingency plans in place to ensure they’re ready to compete