“The most important match of my career? At the moment yes, but even better ones could follow.” Nicky Hayen is clear: Club Brugge wants to go to Athens, but then it will have to face an extremely difficult challenge tomorrow. “We are going to make some adjustments defensively.”
What would Nicky Hayen think when he wakes up on Wednesday morning? The Limburger built a fine career as a player. But a European final? He only played that in his wildest dreams. “Will this be the most important match of my career? Purely on paper, I cannot deny that,” says Hayen. “But I hope there will be even better matches. Every match has to be played, and we tackle each one as if it were a ‘normal’ match. That’s how it should be. We are going to fight for more.”
“Reality is different from images”
Athens on May 29, the final of the Conference League: that is Club Brugge’s big goal. It would be a feat. “This is a very special moment for us,” Hayen continued. “I am very honest about that. But the entire club strives for such matches. And if we want more, we now have to get past a very difficult cliff. The spectators will play a very important role. I really hope that we can make a witch’s cauldron out of it.”
Club Brugge has learned from the first leg in Florence, says Hayen. Blauw-black was struggling, especially defensively. “The reality is still different from scouting reports or video images. The players were able to experience that themselves on the mat last week,” says Hayen. “We are going to make small adjustments defensively. We know where their strengths lie. Fiorentina is a team that likes to have the ball and plays from possession. They try to attack with dangerous wingers. And a dangerous target striker. That is something we have to focus on 100 percent.”
“Stay Sober”
During the last training on Tuesday morning, his players already looked relaxed. It looked nice, as if, say, Sint-Truiden were coming to visit tomorrow. But on Wednesday it will be important to get the nerves under control. “How am I going to keep my boys’ feet on the ground? By staying sober yourself,” Hayen shrugged. “I now receive a lot of messages from family and friends. But I won’t answer them all until next week. With apologies, of course.”
“You could say that I had no experience with Europe either, but in Greece we also did it together. The group is extremely hungry and eager to put in a good performance. I am relaxed. We always want to win, and tomorrow should be the next in that series. We want to continue our momentum.”
© BELGA
