Ħamrun Spartans look for redemption against Ballkani in UEFA Conference League

Ħamrun Spartans will try to bounce back from their heart-breaking elimination from the UEFA Champions League when they face Kosovo’s FC Ballkani in the UEFA Conference League on Tuesday evening.

The Spartans were eliminated from UEFA’s elite club competition after losing a penalty shoot-out to Gibraltar’s Lincoln Red Imps 5-4 following a dominant performance in the second leg which saw the team having two goals controversially annulled by match officials at the Europa Stadium.

Coach Alessandro Zinnari admitted that the team’s elimination to Lincoln Red Imps was hard to fathom but is urging his players to convert that disappointment and anger into positive energy ahead of today’s opening leg in Kosovo.

“The defeat to Lincoln Red Imps was a huge blow for us,” Zinnari told the Times of Malta.

“We are very disappointed and angry for what happened as we had a great opportunity to advance but for various reasons, we were not lucky and ended up being eliminated from the Champions League.

“We played for a whole match with a player less on the pitch and in the end, we scored three regular goals but the match officials only gave us one,” added Zinnari in reference to goals from Raphael Lopes and Luke Montebello that were annulled in controversial circumstances.

“But we have to accept that result and look forward to our next match against FC Ballkani which is going to be another arduous test.”

FC Ballkani are too heading into this tie very disappointed after their shock elimination to Andorra’s UE Santa Coloma on penalties.

The Kosovo champions are coming from an historic European campaign as last season they managed to reach the group stages of the UEFA Conference League where they were drawn to play Dinamo Zagreb, of Croatia, Victoria Plzen, of the Czech Republic, and Astana, of Kazakhstan.

“Things are not going to get easier for us against FC Ballkani,” Zinnari warned.

“They are a very strong team who last season made it to the group stages of the UEFA Conference League and are determined to repeat that run.

“Ballkani too were left irate last week by some refereeing decisions as they had a player sent off against UE Santa Coloma and that inevitably had a huge bearing on the final result.

“That means that they will be keen to bounce back and we need to be ready for them.”

Zinnari is not looking too much at his opponents but wants his players to produce the right response and show that they are a better team than the one eliminated against Lincoln Red Imps.

“We need to focus on ourselves and try to find the right motivation to move forward in this competition,” the Italian coach said.

“It’s a privilege for us to be playing in Europe and we need to make the most of it.

“We know things will be tough for us but that should motivate us to work harder and try and get a positive result not only for ourselves but also for our fans who are always behind us.”

Zinnari is sweating on the fitness of Croatian midfielder Roko Prsa and Ryan Camenzuli who suffered muscular injuries against Lincoln last week but Elionay returns from suspension.