Uefa Europa League second round qualifier, first leg: Cliftonville v AEK Larnaca (Thursday, Solitude, 7.45pm)
CLIFTONVILLE manager Gerard Lyttle has almost a full squad to pick from for tonight’s Europa League qualifier with AEK Larnaca – and they will certainly need to dig deep if they are to secure a result against the professionals from Cyprus.
It was only four years ago that Laranca were playing in the group stages of Europe’s second club competition, managing a draw away to top German club Schalke 04 as they picked up five points during that campaign. This season, Cliftonville have defeated Differdange 03 3-1 on aggregate in the first qualifying round, Jay Donnelly and Davy McDaid scoring in a 2-0 win in north Belfast, while Larnaca defeated San Marino outfit 6-1 over two legs.
Lyttle is under no illusions as to the quality of opposition the Reds will be facing at Solitude: “We know this is a step up from the matches against the team from Luxembourg,” he said.
“This team are technically very good, they’re professional and they’ve an annual budget of something like £3million, so we know what we’re up against. But we’ve prepared the same as we did last week – we’ve watched a few videos on the opposition and we’ve spotted a couple of things, which we’ve worked on in training.
“Larnaca have a load of Spanish players, their technical director and head coach are Spanish, but their captain at the back is 36 and they’ve four or five players over 30 whereas we have a young team, so we can spot a couple of openings.”
As for Cliftonville, Ryan Catney – suspended – and Marty Murray – holiday – will be their only absentees. New additions Jason Mooney and Jason McGuinnness impressed over the two legs against Differdange, while Chris Ramsey is gradually reaching full match fitness.
“We’ll be addressing Thursday’s game as professionally as possible,” added Lyttle.
“The two Jasons [Mooney and McGuinness] have been excellent since their introduction, bringing professionalism, experience and a bit of height to the side. Chris Murray is just lacking in a bit of training since he got back from his wedding and honeymoon, but he’ll get there.”
The draw for the third qualifying round takes place on Friday, with the likes of West Ham and Lille entering the fray, and Lyttle intends for the Reds to still to be in with a shout of reaching that stage.
“The mentality in Northern Ireland is we’re not expected to be in contention come the second leg, but we don’t think like that. We intend to keep ourselves in the tie and you never know - this has been the year for shocks after all.
“We’ll certainly be playing with pride, passion and belief on Thursday night.”
In Thursday’s other Europa League ties involving Irish clubs, both Cork City and St Patrick’s Athletic face tall orders if they are to progress. City host Swedish professional outfit BK Hacken at Turner’s Cross (7.45pm), while St Pat’s travel to Belarus to take on Dinamo Minsk in the Traktor Stadium, with a 4.30pm kick-off.
