Derry City Jamu CSKA Sofia demi Tiket Babak Kedua Liga Europa

Klub asal Irlandia Utara, Derry City, bersiap menjamu wakil Bulgaria, CSKA Sofia, dalam laga leg kedua babak kualifikasi pertama Liga Europa UEFA 2026/2027 di Stadion Ryan McBride Brandywell pada Jumat, 17 Juli 2026 dini hari WIB.

Tim tuan rumah yang berjuluk Candystripes mengemban misi berat untuk membalikkan ketertinggalan agregat 2-3 setelah kalah tipis pada pertandingan leg pertama di Bulgaria pekan lalu.

Satu gol telat dari James Olayinka serta kembalinya gelandang Adam O'Reilly dan bek kiri Brandon Fleming menjadi suntikan moral yang berharga bagi Derry City, meskipun manajer Tiernan Lynch belum bisa menurunkan James Clarke, Gavin Whyte, dan Darragh Markey.

"We’ve be telling the players that no disrespect to CSKA, but it’s not Barcelona we’re playing. I feel we saw in the last 30 minutes in the first leg in Sofia that we can play at this level and we can compete at this level, so it’s really important that we don’t show any disrespect, but it’s also important that we go into the game and try to impose our game plan. " ujar Tiernan Lynch, Manajer Derry City.

Lynch meminta anak asuhnya untuk mempertahankan ketenangan dan keberanian demi memanfaatkan setiap celah pertahanan dari tim tamu.

"As long as we give 100 per cent, then I think we’ll be OK. But as I said I think there’s areas where we can exploit them and if we can show the bravery that we need to show we’ll cause them problems; there’s no doubt about that." kata Tiernan Lynch, Manajer Derry City.

Lynch menambahkan bahwa satu gol terakhir dari James Olayinka pada leg pertama memberikan landasan perjuangan yang sangat krusial bagi skuadnya di kandang sendiri.

"As far as I’m concerned, it’s in our hands, and I think that last goal from James (Olayinka) really gave us a wee bit of a platform now and something for us to really go and get after, but we have to make sure that we manage the game." lanjut Tiernan Lynch, Manajer Derry City.

Tuan rumah dipastikan tidak akan bermain bertahan secara penuh demi mengejar defisit gol, namun taktik permainan tetap dikelola dengan sangat hati-hati.

"We won’t be defensively minded, because we’re a goal behind, but it’s one of those situations where we don’t want to kill the tie before you get yourself potentially back into the tie and we’re going to be conscious of that." tegas Tiernan Lynch, Manajer Derry City.

Evaluasi taktis mendalam juga telah dilakukan oleh tim kepelatihan Derry City setelah mendapatkan informasi langsung mengenai kekuatan personalia CSKA Sofia dari laga sebelumnya.

"We have to understand the areas where we feel that we can exploit them and we’ve now a little bit more knowledge of their personnel and technically they’re a very good team." kata Tiernan Lynch, Manajer Derry City.

Lynch juga mengakui bahwa timnya sempat dikejutkan oleh perubahan formasi yang diterapkan oleh kubu lawan di Sofia pekan lalu.

"They’ve some really good footballers and are a real threat, they’ve obviously a couple of players that we expected to play, that didn’t play and we were probably taking a little bit back by the shape that they played, as it wasn’t the shape that we were expecting." tambah Tiernan Lynch, Manajer Derry City.

Kini, fokus utama armada Candystripes sepenuhnya diarahkan pada peningkatan rasa percaya diri serta ketenangan bermain skuad mereka sendiri di lapangan hijau.

"Who knows what Thursday’s going to bring from their end, but as we’ve talked about with our boys, they’re a couple of elements of our game that we need to get better at; we have to show a little bit more confidence in ourselves and a bit more composure in ourselves." pungkas Tiernan Lynch, Manajer Derry City.

Di sisi lain, CSKA Sofia asuhan Hristo Yanev datang membawa bintang-bintang barunya seperti Stefano Sensi dan Bruno Jordao untuk meredam agresivitas Derry City demi mengamankan tiket ke babak kualifikasi kedua bertemu Qarabag FK.