I am glad to be here. The field and the stadium are of very good quality. We were very well welcomed, we are grateful for that. Tomorrow’s match is very important to us because we would not like to finish Europa League on the last place in the group. We are proud that we play in Europa League. It is a great opportunity for our club and the players to show ourselves. We hope that it will be a good game and we will win “Sheriff”.

It is not a secret that the championship in Norway was over about a month ago and “Tromsø” has played one official match with “Tottenham” since that time. How does your team come to tomorrow’s game?
We had some problems, including personnel problems. But our team has performed quite well lately. The guys have prepared well for the game with “Sheriff” and will try to show a good game. If you watched our last game with “Tottenham”, then you probably noticed that we deserved another result. We played quite well.

It happened that “Tromsø” left top division. Will your team have the same composition, or will there be big changes?
Now we have changes in team composition. We think about the future. Yes, we are in the second league now but we hope to return to Norwegian elite during a year.

Did you watch matches with “Sheriff” in Europa League and in the national championship after your game in Norway? What can you say about the team?
Yes, we watched “Sheriff”. We know that it is a good team and there are players in the team who are individually strong. However, it does not bother us a lot because we tried to play our game even with “Tottenham”.

Is it a tragedy for you that “Tromsø” did not go out of the group, or there is nothing bad about it?
It was very important for us to get in the group stage. We did it and we are very proud of it. Our team has a lot to learn. The fact that we perform in Europa League is very important both for the players and for our club.

Team captain M. Koppinen:
We want to win tomorrow. Our team understands that we should not expect an easy game. “Sheriff” is a good team with strong players. I hope “Tromsø” will play another football, not the one we played before. As our head coach said, we would not like to finish the tournament on the last place, and it will also motivate us.

FC “Sheriff” Press Service