Luciano Spalletti has spoken about the strengths and weaknesses of their opponents in the UEFA Champions League group stages and has lamented http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Axel-Witsel-c7029’s absence
Luciano Spalletti’s men will take on Spanish outfit, Malaga CF, in the opening group stage game of the UEFA Champions League at Estadio La Rosaleda on Tuesday.
The 53-year-old coach helped Zenit St. Petersburg in progressing to the round-of-16 last term, after defeating the likes of http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/FC-Porto-c39186 and Shakhtar Donetsk in the group stages of the continental tournament.
However, the Italian tactician failed to lead the St. Petersburg club to the quarter-finals of the tournament after suffering a pulsating 4-3 defeat against http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/SL-Benfica-c40542 on aggregate, despite winning the first-leg 3-2 at Petrovsky
stadium.
And while most of the football pundits underestimate Malaga, Spalletti has refused to rest on the laurels since crashing out of the Champions League last term. The former Udinese coach urged his side to prepare for their first
group stage match against well organized team, Malaga.
Spalletti insisted that the Spanish outfit loves to play attacking football and went on to hail http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Manuel-c23383 Pellegrini, saying that the former Real Madrid coach will use his past European experience to win against the defending Russian
Premier League champions.
“First, it is always a great honour to monitor Pellegrini. He is doing a great job at Malaga, who had a decent last season. Therefore, we will only be able to find Malaga’s weakness if we ourselves will work very well for the entire
90 minutes on the pitch.”
“I think that the most important quality of Malaga is the fact that this team likes to dominate and hold the ball. I think that Malaga is a great team but I believe that my team has the ability to win and my http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Job-c18684 is to create a
sense of winning mentality in my team.” The Russian Cup winner was quoted as saying.
Commenting on Axel Witsel, who sustained a muscle injury after making his debut against Terek Grozny on Friday, Spalletti insisted that the Belgian winger is not likely to play the upcoming European game.
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