No sugar-coating, no going through the motions. On the eve of the crucial Europa League clash away to Salzburg (kick-off 19:00 CET, Thursday), Lucien Favre spoke at the traditional pre-match press conference before taking the final training session. And the coach wasn’t mincing his words...

Coach, how are you feeling on theve of this Matchday 3 Europa League clash?
Obviously, this is our last chance. We started with a defeat to Schalke. Away to Krasnodar, we could have done better and even won the match late on. That’s the way it goes. Sometimes it turns your way, sometimes it doesn’t. But obviously tomorrow, we need to get a result, otherwise it will become impossible. We only have one option: victory! But to win, we have to play... and play well.

What do you think of this Salzburg side?
They are in the same situation as us. I watched their matches and they could also have hoped for better. That lost at home to Krasnodar (0-1), conceding a very soft goal and creating a number of their own chances. Away to Schalke (1-3), they had two chances at 1-2 but failed to equalise. They conceded two goals in the final minutes of their last domestic match. But they are a good side, regularly champions of their league. But we couldn’t hope for an easy group given our European ranking.

Are you aware that Salzburg haven’t won in a month?
That’s not our problem. These things can happen in football. That’s how it is. They are a team with a lot of potential, a lot of quality. Who should we be wary of? I don’t talk about individuals.

Le Gym will be without Mario Balotelli...
He is suffering from a groin injury. He trained well on Monday but was injured on Tuesday. We’ll see how it evolves.

Has his injury been a handicap in the preparations for this match?
The media talks a lot about him because he has scored some important goals, but he still has a long way to go. He needs to keep working on his runs, his positioning... But he’s working very hard and often stays an extra half an hour at training. It’s great to have him. When he scores, he’s happy and everyone is happy for him. When he’s in form, he’s a very important element of the team. We have to do without him and we have already won three or four times in his absence. We have other good players.

How do you explain Le Gym’s excellent form in Ligue 1 and the difficulties in the Europa League?
We are very happy with how the Ligue 1 championship is going. In the Europa League, we made some bad mistakes in the first game against Schalke, which cost us the match in the end. Against Krasnodar, we could have won, but we conceded silly goals. The Europa League is important for all the clubs. We are a bit disappointed that it hasn’t worked out so far. But we are going to try and set the record straight.

Can we expect to see both sides really going for it?
A coach always tries to plan what is going to happen, but it’s not easy because a game can change very quickly and we never know what is going to happen. What we do know, is that we are going to try our best.

C.D.

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