Premiership

LINFIELD WRAP UP SWISS CHAMPIONS LEAGUE TRIP

10 Aug 2020
football
Linfield conclude their UEFA Champions League preliminary round mini-tournament tomorrow in Nyon, Switzerland against Kosovan side Drita (kick-off 5pm).
 
The one-off, played to a finish tie will see the victors progress in the competition to face Polish giants Legia Warsaw away from home later this month while the losing side drops into the Europa League at the Second Qualifying Round stage.
 
The Blues earned their place in the Preliminary Round final thanks to second half goals from Bastien Hery and Christy Manzinga giving them a 2-0 victory over Sammarinese opponents Tre Fiori. Drita, for their part, got past Andorran outfit Inter Club d'Escaldes 2-1, the winner coming in first half stoppage time.
 
David Healy hopes to have a full panel available for the clash.
 
"The players trained tonight and there doesn't seem to be too many adverse effects in personnel from Saturday, so hopefully we go into it with a fully fit squad," he told the official Linfield website.
 
"Drita are a decent team, we watched them on Saturday night and they could have scored three or four. We know we're going to be up against a very good team but we're confident if we play to our capabilities it should be an entertaining game."
 
The game will be refereed by Greek official Ioannis Papadopoulos, who was part of the team that took charge of Ballymena United's home win over NSi Runavik in last season's Europa League.