Copenhagen has too good a team for the Danish league. They’re building a squad for the European Cup, says Sparta coach

Sparta or Copenhagen. That’s the question for all the money. 9 million euros, to be exact. But do they have a strong enough squad to make it through to the fourth round? At least the Danish side certainly do, says coach Laars Friis.

Sparta has made rather cosmetic changes since last year’s title-winning squad. Tomas Cvančara has been replaced by Veljko Birmančević, Matej Kovar by Peter Vindahl. Otherwise, the starting lineup remained unchanged.

Victor Olatunji, James Gomez, Matěj Ryneš and Václav Sejk came back from the away team. Will it be enough for the Champions League? The first clue will come tonight.

In Copenhagen, after the substitutions, the quality of the team’s play went down significantly. When Birmančević was replaced by Minchec and later by Haraslín Pešek, Sparta came under a lot of pressure and practically stopped being dangerous in attack.

Copenhagen, on the other hand, was paradoxically even stronger after the wings were changed. Achouri and Claesson got big chances and kept the Letná defence constantly busy. The width of the squad could be one of the decisive factors.

“This is a strong team that is built to play in Europe. They are too good to play in the Danish league. They will probably win the league overwhelmingly. They have strengthened the squad with some really good players,” assistant coach Laars Friis told the club’s website.

“They will have no problems winning the Danish league. They’ve built a team for the European Cup, so they’ll have a big machine coming here. We have to be as compact as we were in the first game. We were certainly good defensively, and then we have to be better on the ball. We didn’t play as well as we can,” the Sparta coach added.

The duel between Sparta and Copenhagen is scheduled for 7 pm at Letná. If there is a draw, there will be extra time, possibly followed by penalties. Away goals are no longer valid. If Sparta qualify, the better of Raków/Limassol will face them in the fourth round of the Champions League.

Source: AC Sparta Prague