LOPETEGUI: "I'M EXPECTING COPENHAGEN TO HAVE INDIVIDUAL TALENT AND TEAM SPIRIT"

Julen Lopetegui spoke alongside Kasper Dolberg at the pre-match press conference, ahead of our official UEFA training session on the eve of the Champions League clash with FC Copenhagen. 

The coach began by highlighting the importance of the win in Barcelona on Saturday.

"Winning is always important, it makes you work with a different energy, but tomorrow is another match is a different competition. We're excited about preparing for the match at our best."

"We're playing against an excellent team at their stadium, they knocked out the Turkish champions and have lost just two out of thirteen Champions League games at home. Teams like Juventus and Porto couldn't win here. We'll have to play well to beat them, they're very strong at this stadium."

Julen then focused on the team's current situation.

"We're only focused on football, it's the only important thing. We can't control anything else. We have to convey to them calmness and confidence. We know the season is very long and when the whole squad are at cruising speed, hopefully in a few weeks, we'll be stronger. In the meantime we have to compete and we have an exciting and important match tomorrow."

"Winning in Europe is difficult, even more so in the Champions League, and we have to be calm to compete. I can see excitement in the group. It's very difficult to qualify for this tournament and we suffered a lot last year. We want to approach this match with respect to the competition by playing well and having the feeling of winning it."

He then went on to praise tomorrow's opponents, before focusing on an ex-player of theirs, Thomas Delaney. 

"They're a very complete team that knows how they want to play, they've got experienced players, physicality and talent. They've got good-level players who work very well together in attack and defence."

"We know this team from when they were knocked out in the UEL quarters by Manchester United two years ago and they've always played well here in the UCL. They were really on top of Trabzonspor and that's the team I'm expecting to face, a team that has individual talent and team spirit."

"Thomas is in his second season with us and he'll help us, he's an international with experience. He really knows this stadium and this atmosphere and I'm sure he'll be at his best. He has a challenge to take a step forward, we'll help him with that so he can help us achieve our objectives."

To finish, Lopetegui knows the team have to take the UCL one step at a time.

"I've been here just over three years and every UCL game is very important because there's only six in the Group Stage. There's five to go and we'll do the maths at the end. It's time for us to approach tomorrow's match with a good mentality and beat a good team."