UEFA ECL: Partizan v Feyenoord preview

Partizan is home to Feyenoord on Thursday (6.45pm CET kick-off) for a first-leg of UEFA Europa Conference League last 16 stage fixture.

TEAM NEWS

Danilo Pantic (hamstring) is out for the remainder of the season. Ricardo Gomes serves one-game suspension. Lazar Markovic (knock) is back in contention. Marko Jevtovic (illness) is doubtful. Ljubomir Fejsa (lack of match-fitness) remains sidelined as well as Aleksandar Miljkovic who is still nursing his injury.

Partizan boss Aleksandar Stanojevic on upcoming game:

-We are extremely proud of our club, players and fans as we can now attend one such European football show tomorrow. We pushed hard to get to this stage. I want us all to enjoy, players on the pitch and fans on the stands, to play with pride and present ourselves in a best way possible, to try and achieve one more great success.

I`m delighted with my team`s form, we only played a poor derby game so far. We were exceptional away in Nis and afterwards, we had Sparta too. So, we have no form problems.

Each game brings something new and special. We reached this stage of European competition on a high level.

There`s no need to talk about motivation. You get a situation when you are motivated but your opponents impose themselves on you. If Feyenoord is to be better, it`s not going to have anything to do with our motivation, that`s unquestionable. You can come over and see our training sessions and how motivated players are. We are playing a historic match and that says enough.

Feyenoord is a big club with exceptional tradition. They are currently third-placed in Eredivisie and their football game is excellent in my opinion. Personally, domestic title is priority for me but we have a chance to write another page of our club`s history regarding European circuits. We simply cannot back off. I can`t rest 6 players tomorrow just for the sake of domestic championship, I just can`t do it.

Arne Slot extended his contract with Feyenoord which means he does a good job there. Well, I extended my deal too (laughs). I`m not thinking about his recent clashes with Partizan when he was coaching Alkmaar, I just look at how to neutralize his style of play. He is extremely attacking-oriented coach willing to take risks. They picked up under Slot. But, this one European encounter, away one for them, and we`ll have to see how it all looks like tomorrow, what direction the game will take. I`m sure it`s going to be dynamic though.

I don`t expect defensive-oriented Feyenoord at all, they have 20 shots on goal per game average. Wherever they go, they play their style of football. It`s only up to us to try and prevent them from doing that. Feyenoord attacks in numbers, they are dangerous in all attacking departments.

Guus Til is unavailable for Feyenoord but they have a number of roster solutions. He`s a good player who didn`t show his true abilities in Spartak Moscow but he is in a form of his life at Feyenoord. We will be without Ricardo, our best player, so I can`t think too much about them missing Til.

Off recent, Feyenoord played a really good game against AZ Alkmaar, they should have won it but they lost. They were not that good in a draw against Groningen although it`s not on me to scan them in that manner, it`s not fair and professional, it`s just my opinion really. We watched almost a dozen games they played this season, both domestically and in Europe, early in the season and the recent ones, we did our scouting really.

PHOTO GALLERY: MIROSLAV TODOROVIC