„Levski“ head coach Julio Velasquez gave a briefing before the „blues“'s visit to „Viktoria“ (Pilzen) in the „Europa League“ tournament. The match is on Thursday at 22:00.
„Viktoria“ are a completely different team from NEK. We respect all opponents, but they are very different. In terms of defensive play, NEK defended man for man all over the pitch, and the team we play tomorrow defends with a different dynamic. Regarding their offensive play, there are similarities. This team wants to get to the last quarter of the pitch extremely quickly. But how exactly it gets to the last meters is the difference. Our focus is ourselves – our team. We have a lot of confidence in all the players and we are happy with how they respond in each competition. Tomorrow is another incredible opportunity to compete in this tournament“, Velázquez began.
„Buras is fully recovered. But from another point of view, his condition is that he has not played for a long time. He has not yet done many training sessions with normal dynamics. The truth is that he is recovering and developing in an exceptional way. The fact that he is traveling with us and is in the group means that I can use him. Of course, he must continue to accumulate training to get closer to what we think is the best version of him“, the Spanish specialist also said.
„From the point of view of your first question, I must highlight Gasper's exceptional performance and behavior. After he got this injury, we asked him to stay on the field a little longer and, as always, he puts the team before himself. This was a typical injury of those that a few minutes on the field will not make worse, but you have to endure it. I want to distinguish him because he is one of those who proudly performs this profession. From the point of view of how long he will be absent, there is little chance that he will be with us for the match with “Arda“ next Tuesday. From the point of view of this match, now would be a little early. If we had two more days, it could be an option. From the point of view of tomorrow's opponent, we also commented on it with the players today - they are a direct team that plays vertical football. They are quite well built to be able to win the second ball. This is exactly one of the aspects that we need to control well tomorrow, so that we are in a position to win“, continued Velázquez.
“We know why Marco is here. He helps us in an exceptional way both with his qualities and as a person who adapts incredibly in our dressing room. This is something I had no doubt about. I always like to study what kind of person each player is and we knew what to expect. What is important is in the present tense. Of course, this type of tournament in which he participated, this experience, can always help both on the field and off it“, commented Grujic, the coach of “Levski“.
“I want the team to have character on the field and for the fans to be happy with what they see. There were many periods in the match with NEK that made the staff and the fans enjoy what they see. I want to say that I was not angry about the match in Lovech. I think that on the day of the match with “Spartak“ (Pleven) the team did what it had to do. These types of matches are not easy, you have to mature in them, understand what type of matches these are. Ultimately, the opponent is an important team that starts with a lot of energy and players behind the ball line. You have to mature during the match. These are normal scenarios during the 90 minutes of the match. Something that can serve as an example for you are the matches between CSKA and “Ludogorets“ for the Cup and how they developed. In terms of the difficulty of the matches, there is one thing that is related to the weather. We played on Sunday and because of that we trained today in Sofia, as we did before NEK. This helps us to practice some things on our field, which we would have difficulty doing on the opponent's field. What I am saying is that in the summer we had fewer matches. We could have trained on the opponent's field, but now we can't. And in such short terms we want to take everything from the last day before the match. "In terms of the emotional difficulty of this, to be honest, the team makes things very easy for me because they are performing incredibly. The internal message that we have in the locker room is that every game is of great importance to us. We have the same requirements, the same performance. It all depends on the players' dedication, which is incredible," Velázquez said.
“Football is everything – the phase without the ball, the phase with the ball and there has to be a balance between them. The key between them starts with being humble, remembering what tournament we are in and knowing that nothing is easy here. We will face an opponent who will make the match very difficult for us. If we are humble and true to our identity we will be in a situation that will allow us to win the match“, concluded Velázquez.