Neestrup: We're fully prepared for Basel showdown

F.C. Copenhagen head coach Jacob Neestrup says the team and staff have given their all to be ready for tonight's UEFA Champions League play-off second leg against FC Basel in Parken.

The Lions earned a 1-1 draw in Switzerland last week, meaning tonight's 9pm kick off is finely in the balance.

"We have done everything we could physically and across our coaching staff to get players ready for this match," says Neestrup, who confirmed Thomas Delaney and Elias Achouri are part of the 23-man squad.

"We have rotated all over the place, and also done everything we could to get Delaney and Achouri ready. But we may gamble with them on behalf of the team.

"If there is a match where you have to take a small chance, then it is a match like this, but that does not mean that this is what we'll do."

FCK beat Malmö 5-0 in the second leg of the previous qualifying round, having battled out a draw in Sweden. But Neestrup isn't thinking about a similar result tonight.

"I am not preparing the players for the same match pattern that we saw against Malmö, because Basel will do some things in a different way, where it is impossible to have such an exact prediction of the match, with such a big pressure on an opponent," adds the boss.

"Our own performance is still the most important, but Malmö and Basel are two very different teams in mindset. We saw that down there (in Switzerland), and it will also happen here. They are much more active and offensively minded than Malmö were both away and at home."