CORK CITY WILL need to learn from their defeat to Legia Warsaw by taking their chances if they’re to have any hope of extending their European campaign beyond next week.
That’s the message from City’s assistant manager John Cotter ahead of this evening’s Europa League first leg against Rosenborg at Turner’s Cross (7.45pm, RTÉ 2).
City squandered several goalscoring opportunities last month in both legs of their tie against Legia Warsaw, which saw the SSE Airtricity Premier Division title-holders eliminated from the Champions League in the first qualifying round.
However, that blow was cushioned by the consolation of a place in the Europa League, with City advancing to the third qualifying round courtesy of a bye.
The Leesiders are already guaranteed to earn a minimum of €820,000 from their exploits in Europe this season, but that figure will be boosted by an additional €300,000 if they can cause an upset against the Norwegian champions.
“We need to take our chances,” said Cotter, when asked about the lessons they learned from their 4-0 aggregate loss to Legia Warsaw. “They [Legia] are obviously a very good side with a good history in Europe, but if you look at the home game, we had chances and you have to take one at least. You have to score. It’s the small margins.
“If you remember in 2016 when we played Hacken, we scored from a set-piece, hung on to win 1-0 and got through. Legia scored from a set-piece in Turner’s Cross from 30 yards out, so it shows that those small margins make a massive difference. Hopefully if we create chances this time we can take one or two of them.”
Champions League elimination has also condemned Rosenborg to the Europa League. After seeing off Icelandic champions Valur in the opening round, they were knocked out of Europe’s premier club competition by Celtic for the second consecutive season.
The Trondheim-based outfit recently endured a period of significant upheaval. Less than a week before their first leg against Celtic, manager Kåre Ingebrigsten was sacked despite guiding the club to three league titles and two Norwegian Cups in his four years in charge.
The squad responded by issuing a statement in which they called for Ingebrigsten to be reinstated. While that request was shot down by the club, the mood appears to be improving under interim boss Rini Coolen.
They briefly returned to the summit of Norway’s top flight on Saturday courtesy of a 3-1 win away to Ranheim, although SK Brann — who are chasing their first title in 11 years — restored their two-point lead by easing past IK Start on Monday.
“There was huge turmoil after the firing of Kåre Ingebrigtsen and both players and fans seemed very, very upset as to why it was done,” explains Norwegian football journalist Jonas Giæver. “The easy explanation is that the board did not see any development to their play.
“Since then, Rini Coolen — a Dutchman with no track record as a manager — who was hired to lead the academy, has coached the team. They’ve switched to a 4-2-3-1-formation and completely dominated Ranheim in the last round of the league.
“That seems to have settled both fans and players as there seemed to be a more free-flowing brand of football. Coolen is very possession-oriented and uses his deep-lying midfielders to control play. I was very impressed with what they did against Ranheim, who drew 1-1 at Lerkendal (Rosenborg’s home ground) earlier this season.”
Yesterday, Rosenborg strengthened their squad with the addition of Tunisian attacker Issam Jebali from Swedish club Elfsborg, but he hasn’t been registered in time for this tie.
Among their key players are a pair of Danish internationals — captain and midfielder Mike Jensen, and former Arsenal striker Nicklas Bendtner — while 23-year-old Norwegian international left-back Birger Meling has been attracting the interest of clubs in the UK.
“Obviously they played Celtic in the last round and we’ve watched those two games,” John Cotter said. “In the first game, [Rosenborg] could have been two-up at half-time. I know Celtic came out a different side in the second half but they looked very good, especially on the break.
“They’re very fit, they’re mid-season and they went top of the table the other night with a win over Ranheim. They look a very good side, very organised and they have a lot of players who have been there for a few years, so they’ll be a test.”
This is the second season in a row that Rosenborg have come up against the Irish champions. Just over 12 months ago they advanced in the qualifying rounds of the Champions League at Dundalk’s expense thanks to an extra-time goal from Icelandic international Matthías Vilhjalmsson.
Celtic halted their progress in the Champions League, but Rosenborg went on to defeat Ajax to secure a place in the group stages of the Europa League, where they finished third behind Zenit Saint Petersburg and Real Sociedad.
Cork City have been on a good run of form since falling short against Legia Warsaw. They’ve scored 10 goals and conceded just twice in league wins over Derry City, Bray Wanderers and Waterford, which have given them a two-point lead at the top of the Premier Division, although Dundalk have the advantage of a couple of games in hand.
“We were disappointed to come away from there [Warsaw] after being knocked out but the lads bounced back,” said John Cotter. “They came back in, trained properly and got themselves going. They had a great performance against Derry and in the next two games against Bray and Waterford as well. Waterford was a massive win for us last week.”
The winners of this tie — the second leg of which takes place in Trondheim in seven days’ time — will advance to the Europa League’s play-off round, where their opponents will be the losers of the Champions League meeting of RB Salzburg (Austria) and KF Shkëndija (Macedonia). Salzburg lead 3-0 after last night’s first leg.
Beyond that is the group stages, for which Dundalk (2016) and Shamrock Rovers (2011) remain the only Irish clubs to have previously qualified. The chance to compete for such a lucrative reward will be a significant incentive for City to overcome Rosenborg, but Cotter knows that such a prize is by no means within touching distance just yet.
“We haven’t even looked at the draw because that would be disrespectful to Rosenborg,” he said. “We wouldn’t even put it into the players’ heads, or our own. We haven’t even looked at the second leg of this tie yet.
“This is the game for us. It’s a home game and we’ll have a full house. Turner’s Cross, as was shown against Legia, is a great place to play when the atmosphere is like that. The crowd have been brilliant so this is a great game for us to have. Hopefully we can go out and get a positive result going into next week.”
Cotter added: “Obviously it would be great to score. Another big thing when you’re playing at home is to try and keep a clean sheet so that there are no away goals. But we’ll look to score and try and win the game if we can.
“If we do create those chances — whether it’s set-pieces or from open play — it’s about having the quality and composure to take one or two of them and give ourselves something to hold onto.”
City will give late fitness tests to midfielder Garry Buckley (groin) and central defender Damien Delaney (knee), but both players are expected to be available. Right-back Colm Horgan remains sidelined with a calf injury.
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