Despite two defeats against FC Barcelona and FC Chelsea, Bulgarian champion’s Levski Sofia head into their third Champions League group game with confidence.
Despite two defeats against FC Barcelona and FC Chelsea, Bulgarian champion’s Levski Sofia head into their third Champions League group game with confidence.
Despite two defeats against FC Barcelona and FC Chelsea, Bulgarian champion’s Levski Sofia head into their third Champions League group game with confidence. Trainer of the tournament new boys commented: “We have no fear ahead of our third game, we have learned from the first two games. Physically we could hold our own, our performances were good, we even had a lot of ball possession but the results just didn’t mirror that. We’ve not had the necessary luck. We will go into tomorrow’s game well prepared and want to prove that we are also capable of producing outstanding results.
Of massive importance to the Bulgarians is the involvement of their experienced attacker Daniel Borimirov. The front man, with Bundesliga experience, played for 1860 Munich for eight years until 2004 hammered home the confidence of the south-east Europeans: “I surely have some tips and tricks that can help us beat Werder but I have no intention in giving them away. You’ll see on the pitch tomorrow.” A sure fire element of that will lie in Sofia’s attacking ability. Borimirov added: “We blew decisive chances to score goals in the other games and we want to improve that tomorrow – we will score tomorrow.” Those are stiff words from the ex-Munich man. The 36 year old knows all about scoring at the Weser Stadium having scored the majority of his away goals while active for Munich falling in Bremen. Borimirov scored five of his 31 Bundesliga goals against Werder and he remembers fondly: “I have a particularly good record here, almost always scoring when I’ve been here. I would be nice if that were to continue tomorrow but top priority is the success of the team and not whether or not I score a goal.”
Team spirit is of a great deal of importance to the Bulgarians too which makes it all the more bitter for coach Stoilov who as yet is unsure as to whether he will have his best team available. Especially effecting could be the loss of defender Zhivko Milanov and striker Valeri Domovchiyski. “They are very important to us, we will make an analysis after tonight’s training session but wait till before kick-off with the final decision”, explained the trainer.
The Bulgarians are also relying on the support of the 1,500 fans who will make the pilgrimage to the Weser. The trainer commented: “At the moment we expect about 1,500 fans but could expect more to be in the stadium. Our fans will travel from all over Europe to make it to the game.” The Bulgarian fans will have to have gotten their tickets on time though, no more will be available on the night. The match is a sell-out.
The number of fans at the stadium will have more do with just the support of their team, but also the opinion of Werder Bremen in Bulgaria. The trainer of the side from the capital admitted his respect for the German club: “I’ve been following the progress of Werder Bremen over the last seven years. They perform at a level that is no less impressive than Barcelona or Chelsea. Thomas Schaaf has worked very well and Werder count among the top 20 clubs in Europe now.” Daniel Borimirov added: “Bremen had a dodgy start to the season but have proven to be the top side in Germany in recent weeks.”
