Gothenburg’s offensive star missing before qualifying

Of: Henrik Lundgren

Published: September 16, 2020 kl. 12.14
Updated: September 16, 2020 kl. 13.15

GOTHENBURG. Strong blow for IFK Gothenburg.

Offensive star Giorgi Kharaishvili was absent in the final training session before the FC Copenhagen match.

– We have to play at the top to get a good result with us, says Roland Nilsson.

Photo: KRISTER ANDERSSON / BILDBYRÅN

It has been a difficult season for IFK Gothenburg in general and for Giorgi Kharaishvili in particular. The Georgian has only played ten games, seven of them since the start, and has had major injury problems. He jumped to Hammarby after a 1.5-month absence due to a foot injury. He played then from the beginning against Falkenberg for the last time, but was forced to leave already in the 33rd minute after a new blow to the foot.

Tomorrow night Blåvitt will face the great Danish club FC Copenhagen in the Europa League qualifiers and, judging by today’s training, you will have to do without your outside midfielder. Kharaishvili was not present and Gothenburg coach Roland Nilsson has previously stated that it is imperative that he train today in order to be relevant for tomorrow’s matches. But in the subsequent press conference, he did not want to give any update.

– No, it’s the medical team. Giorgi was not present today, but it will be the medical team who will comment on it.

Sportbladet has submitted its candidacy to the club’s medical team without success.

Long-time injured Robin Söder was also absent from training, as was Noah Alexandersson.

But maybe IFK Gothenburg can still get a team of the match addition. Sebastian Eriksson was back in play during the short quarter in which the media could follow the training. The new acquisition was directly injured in the first match (against Mjällby), but seemed to be able to play without hindrance now.

IFK Gothenburg had their spy Alf Westerberg in Denmark on Sunday when FCK played the league debut against Odense (loss, 2-3).

– He’s a good opponent we know. They have shown it before, recently against a great team like Manchester United who they almost managed to beat. They were very close, so tomorrow we have to play at the top to get a good result with us, says Roland Nilsson.

The advantage of IFK Gothenburg should be that it is decided in one meeting. At home. The fact that the match is moved to Ullevi due to qualification for the European Championship of the women’s team should also be positive, as it was there that Blåvitt played best during the successful spring of last year.

– If we win the match, it is an advantage with a single match, and vice versa. It is difficult to say, but we believe that we have great confidence in ourselves and that we will play a good game. We have played in this arena and we have had very good results, says team captain Andre Calisir.

Gothenburg won its first match with Roland Nilsson, 3-0 against Falkenberg. But tomorrow the quality of resistance will be different. Nilsson disagrees, however, that it would be a defensive game between IFK Gothenburg and FCK.

– We have started a construction now that we will continue to build, it applies to both our defense and our attack game. We talked about both today during practice so that we can have our own game tomorrow. Then we will see what the opponents do as well.

Published: September 16, 2020 kl. 12.14

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