Jimmy Thelin spoke to the press ahead of tomorrow’s game against AEK Athens and made clear his respect for the Dons’ opponents.
RedTV subscirbers can watch the joint press conference with the manager and Nicky Devlin now.
“I think we’ll come up against a really good team tomorrow. I like the way Marco Lukic is playing with his team. They have good ideas, good attacking formation.
“It’s a challenge for us, but it’s also good for us to take this challenge and believe in ourselves. You always need to respect what the opponent is trying to do, but you also have to have a strong belief in your own skills and the way we want to go as a team.
“I think we get some learning points from the FCSB game and Shakhtar game. We did some mistakes that cost us a lot. It’s up to us to go now and take the challenge on tomorrow.
“For us, the game is so important tomorrow, in many ways. First of all, we want to keep building on the results we had in our league. But also, we want to challenge ourselves in this competition to get points. It’s a different kind of team we are playing against now. If we do mistakes in some areas, it can get really punished.
“I think for us to grow, and to deserve to get through, we have to have a really strong performance tomorrow. For us, it’s super important tomorrow to show to our fans who travel here, and also to the fans back home of course, that we are a good team and that we can get points in this competition.
“Our focus is that every week we must try to perform as a team not as individuals. I think we have created a dynamic now that we are ready for the game tomorrow. I really believe so.
“We want to come up against really good teams and put ourselves under this pressure to show that we are good. I would like a good performance tomorrow in this environment. I think it’s a test for us and it’s important for us to take points. We are focused and determined and we are looking forward to the game.
“We know that there will be a big atmosphere at the game. Football should be a game of passion and emotion, both from the fans and from the players. But as a professional you always have to manage the emotions. That’s important tomorrow of course. Even when we play at home, the more loud it is, the more emotions are around.
“This competition is a really competitive environment. That’s where we want to be. Every year we try to be as good as possible. We want to play in Europe every year. It’s important for our club to grow and get the players used to it and create this habit of playing a lot of games.
“We are looking forward to try to get through now to the final games and the knock-out phase. We know we have to be humble, it is a lot of difficult games against good teams but when you are in a competition you always have to try. That is our aim, to get points tomorrow and to progress.”
