“It’s the Champions League – a really big game against one of the best teams in Europe,” Hjulmand stressed on Monday evening. “We love challenges like this. There’s nothing better. We’re really excited about tomorrow night.” The 53-year-old also explained how he wants his team to approach the side sitting third in England’s Premier League. “We want to find our own game, be active and keep trying to force possession for ourselves at certain times. We’ll need to put in a lot of effort for that, but we’re ready.”
Hjulmand: “We’ll have a great team on the pitch”
Asked about City striker Erling Haaland, who’s scored 22 goals in only 20 competitive appearances this season, Hjulmand added: “He’s one of the best strikers in the world, without doubt. We’ve obviously analysed him extensively, but you can’t fully take a player of his class out of the game. For us it’s much more about the team than individual players. They have very good structure, especially in attack.”
In terms of team news, Hjulmand has a few absentees to compensate for, with both Edmond Tapsoba (accumulation of yellows) and Robert Andrich (red card) suspended. There will also be several U19 players in the squad on Tuesday night. “We always concentrate only on the players available to us. We have to fully focus, like we do for every game. Even with the absentees, I think we’ll have a great team on the pitch and good options from the bench. We’ve got great trust in every individual.” That includes Claudio Echeverri. When asked about the City loanee, the Dane replied: “Obviously Claudio is in my thoughts for tomorrow. He’s played a lot of minutes in the Champions League [135 across four games, including two starts]. He’s absolutely ready for tomorrow.”
