Watch: Modica says Spartans must win at all costs against Floriana

Ħamrun Spartans coach Gianluca Modica admitted that his team have little margin for error when they face leaders Floriana in a crucial YoHealth Malta Premier League Top Six clash on Wednesday.

The Spartans are currently trailing Floriana by four points with two matches remaining, and the Italian coach lost several players who have sought pastures new, namely Merlin Hadzi, Ante Coric, Semar Smajlagic, Stijn Meijer and Domantas Simkus.

French striker N’Dri Koffi is also closing in on a move to Turkish side Vansport but the forward is expected to play against the Greens on Wednesday.

“After finishing our European commitments in the UEFA Conference League, we opted to make some changes to the squad, with some players opting to seek pastures new and others were released,” Modica said.

“I will remain honoured to have worked with such a great group of players who have rewrote the history books of not only our club but Maltese football in general, and I wish them the best of luck in their future.

“Now we have a very delicate match coming up against Floriana which we know we need to win at all costs if we are to continue to battle for top spot. We spent the Christmas break working hard and trying to understand how to approach this difficult match to achieve the result everyone at the club wants.

“Having a smaller squad offers an added challenge but I have a lot of faith in my players who are fully committed to going out and getting the job done against Floriana.

“The level of commitment and work ethic shown by my players fills me with a lot of optimism that we can have a great match against Floriana.”

On his part, Ryan Camenzuli said seeing a number of changes in the squad are quite natural during the January transfer window, but the main focus of the group is to beat Floriana to keep fighting till the end for the top spot.

“We may have lost some players, but the focus of our group of players remains the same as we know this is a crucial match for us,” Camenzuli said.

“Floriana have been very consistent this season, but we have our style of play that have yielded us some great results and the goal is to go out and get the three points to stay alive in the battle for top spot.

 “Now that our European campaign is over, has eased a bit of pressure on us, particularly from a mental point of view and I am sure that our team will be able to perform at a very high level week in week out to keep fighting for our quest to defend the title.

“At the end of the day, our goal is quite clear – we have three titles to fight for, the Super Cup, the league and the FA Trophy – and we want to win them all to ensure we cap what has been so far an historic cap in the best possible way.”