Ludogorets coach Ante Simundza spoke at his official press conference before the team's first match in the Europa League. Tomorrow the champions face Italy's Roma in a Europa League Group C match.
Simundza expressed his satisfaction that he can count on all his players, who are highly motivated.
"The players are on the field. The most important thing is to respond to Roma's class. We must respond with courage and confidence. We, coaches, can only change tactics during the match. So far, we have no problems with the players. They are very motivated and want to play. We will see what their condition will be after training. I hope everything will be fine and we can count on everyone. It's a real privilege for me to be able to choose from so many players. In the previous game, we made a lot of rotations in the lineup. Everyone made a request, some more serious, some less. I am satisfied that I can rely on such a group of players and if necessary we can change things during the game", commented Simundza.
Regarding the new players who arrived in the last days the specialist commented that he can count on Vitri, who has already recorded minutes against Heber.
"Vitri already played in the weekend match. The others came a little later and haven't done a serious training session with the team yet. We don't have much observation on them. We know what type of players they are and I think they will be able to help us in the future. Tension can be good too. We bring that kind of tension to the team so that we can develop and improve things. Tomorrow is a day when we have to enjoy this type of tension. When I started working with the players yet on the first day, my message was that it doesn't matter who or where we play, our goal is only one - to win. I agree that on paper Roma are well ahead of us. They come from one of the strongest leagues. The only thing we can do and will do is to have a winning mentality," he said.
"I am happy that we have reduced the injuries. At the moment there are only two. About the transfer I can say that it can always be worse or better. I am happy with the transfers because in the end we got the players we wanted. We did our analysis. We showed the players everything from Roma's last game. We know what to expect from them. What happened against Udinese was a little different. As Jose Mourinho said - it is better to lose a game with 0:4 than to lose four games with 0:1", Simundza also shared.
Captain Anton Nedyalkov also took part in the press conference.
"We will approach with the necessary respect but we will not defend and bother. We will go out and play a good game and show that we are not afraid of the big teams. Once we get to that stage of the tournament, we should be ready. You know who Paulo Dybala is, you know what class he has. I'm going out on the pitch and we'll see what happens. I'm going out to enjoy the moment," he commented.
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