Kucher: We dream of playing in the strongest tournament, but we understand that a very difficult confrontation awaits us

Head coach SC Dnepr-1 Oleksandr Kucher shared his expectations from the confrontation with Panathinaikos in the second qualifying round Champions League.

“For us, this is the second European Cup season, but this is a different tournament – the Champions League qualification, perhaps the strongest team tournament in the world. For us, this is a new competition, for which we were preparing, training camps were held. Everything that we planned, we did. I think that we are approaching these matches in good condition,” Kucher said.

“Yes, we have a war in our country now, so we cannot host opponents at home in European competition. Now we are in Uzhgorod, where we train and host opponents in the UPL, but there is a chance to return to play at the Dnipro-Arena. Yes, we don’t have fans far from home, and this situation is quite unpleasant, because the players need fans in the stands, because they help and add emotions. And the European Cup matches are very stimulating for this, because the fans are here for us [в Кошице] they also help the guys enjoy playing in front of a full stadium. We don’t have enough of that.”

“Judging by last year, we were very well supported in Kosice. We wish that tomorrow we will feel it from both Ukrainians and Slovaks. This support is very much needed, because it helps us. As for the next season, of course, there is a desire to play in the strongest tournament, we dream about it, but we understand that a very difficult confrontation awaits us, because a very good team will play against us. We will do our best to get a positive result.”

“We are maximalists. In every match we need a win. Therefore, now you should not think that we can secure a place in the European Cup autumn. We play in the Champions League qualification. Let’s play here and dream of the Champions League.”

“Of course, the level of opponents that we had at the training camp is lower, although I don’t want to offend anyone, but these are realities, because the Ukrainian Championship and the Champions League are different tournaments. We pulled the maximum out of what we could, and set up the guys, although, of course, we were not opposed by rivals from the leading football states. But we set the guys up for the fact that they should be completely concentrated on these sparring matches, and they had the maximum return, so that later they could transfer all this to official matches.

“Panathinaikos is a very well balanced team, experienced and has a good line of attack, where you can list everyone and every player is a threat, and any of them can decide the episode. A very good team and we need to be constantly attentive and responsibly treat the opponent.”