Jose Couceiro warns Lokomotiv against Javi Martins and Fernando Llorente for the upcoming UEFA Europa League tie against the Spanish outfit at Luzhniki stadium.
Lokomotiv Moscow head coach, Jose Couceiro, has tipped his side to claim all three points in the upcoming UEFA Europa League tie against Athletic Bilbao.
The former http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/FC-Porto-c39186 boss admitted that the Parovozy are lacking match fitness at the moment, which can cause them problems ahead of the mouthwatering fixture.
He added that they are up against a stern opposition despite the Lions latest 4-2 European defeat against Paris saint-Germain.
The Lions are doing well domestically. As things stand, they are just two points away from the fourth spot on La Liga table. Furthermore they have reached Copa del Rey final after defeating CD Mirandes 8-3 on aggregate.
On the contrary, the Moscow-based club are enjoying a decent European campaign this time around. They progressed to the round-of-32 after claiming the second spot on their group table.
Reports in Russia suggest that Lokomotiv will play the upcoming match without http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Vladislav-Ignatyev-c36410.
The aforementioned players have been ruled out by the Portuguese manager himself. Couceiro revealed that the players are not in the optimal physical conditions to start the encounter.
However, Couceiro confirmed that http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Maksim-Belyayev-c23212 all are in contention to start the much anticipated European tie. The defenders reportedly sustained knocks while training at Lokomotiv stadium.
“Both the sides have equal chances to progress to the later stages. We are ready for the match, both physically and psychologically, but we are lacking match practice.
“Athletic have done remarkably good domestically. They have young players with immense talent. Javi Martins is known to control the midfield area of the pitch while http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Fernando-Llorente-c13671 can cause our defenders lot problems.” The 49-year-old
was quoted as saying.
Predicting a favourable result ahead of the home game, Couceiro said: “1-0 would be a good result. But it is worth considering that in their entire European campaign, Athletic have lost only once. So we have a difficult task.”
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