EL Q1: Partizan v RFS preview

Partizan is home to Latvians RFS on Thursday (9pm CET kick-off) for Europa League round 1 one-legged tie.

TEAM NEWS

Seydouba Soumah is back in contention, Lazar Markovic is still sidelined. Vladimir Stojkovic is expected to be first-choice keeper tomorrow.

Partizan boss Savo Milosevic on RFS encounter:

-After the draw, I said it`s good we are playing at home. Our team feels more comfortable as a host and we have to use that to our full advantage.

RFS will cause us trouble if we are not focused all the way through. They are experienced side with around dozen foreign players and six or seven chaps 6 ft 2 or taller along with fine set-piece takers.

Our guess is that they will play counter-attacking game. I believe our possession will make them pull back. It`s crucial we do things we have to do, to play at our pace.

My greatest fear is that this is one-legged tie, it`s a special kind of pressure. No second change and that suits weaker sides. What matters is how my team handles this psychological pressure.

It`s clear our play is improving. I`m really pleased we are reaching last season`s level gradually. We are close to what we expect from this team and I hope our running tomorrow will be on the required level. I believe we have more quality than RFS and we play at home. It`s going to tough and we need to be patient.

Left-back Slobodan Urosevic ahead of RFS tie:

-We know we have problems each time we don`t enter the game motivated and focused. We said more than once how we learned from our mistakes, but it turned out we didn`t. However, it seems we are on the right path now.

We are used to pressure. It`s inevitable when you play for a big club. We have a target to achieve although there`ll be no fans to help us. But, it won`t be the first time stands will be empty, we are used to that too.

I played alongside RFS forward Lemajic while in Napredak Krusevac. He`s a really good attacker with quality ball control, strong in the air.

PHOTO GALLERY: MIROSLAV TODOROVIC