Club legend and former international Saša Peršon analyzes the return leg of the Conference League third qualifying round against Ilves for Net.hr, highlighting the artificial turf as a key challenge.
Rijeka's footballers take to the pitch in Finland on Thursday at 6 PM to defend their narrow 1:0 lead from the first leg against Ilves. The return match of the Conference League third qualifying round brings challenges that Saša Peršon, a legend of the Rijeka club and former Croatian international, warned about in an interview with Net.hr.
Peršon has no doubt that this away trip will be tougher than their previous European test. "Well, I expect, and I think they are aware of it in Rijeka too, that this will be a completely different match than the previous one against the Irish. I think this is a more serious team. The Finns have been in action for longer," Peršon told Net.hr.
Although Rijeka carries a valuable advantage from Rujevica, Peršon believes that an active approach and scoring a goal in Finland are necessary for progression. "Rijeka has, admittedly, that 1:0 lead, but, well, they must be aware that it won't be easy," he emphasized.
He adds that a potential away goal would completely change the dynamics of the match: "Certainly, with a goal, Rijeka would be much closer to advancing, but it will also be an interesting and uncertain match until the very end. I would like Rijeka to score a goal and then bring the match to a close in their favor, but we can expect it to be tough and very uncertain."
What could pose the biggest problem for the team from Kvarner is the artificial surface on which the match will be played. Peršon emphasizes that this is standard for Scandinavian clubs and their great advantage. "What needs to be said is that it's played on artificial turf. That can potentially be a problem for teams that don't play on artificial turf, but well, for Finland and Norway, these are practically more or less normal things," he explained.
He also recalled the example of Bodø/Glimt, a club that went far in Europe last season playing precisely on such a surface. "Rijeka certainly needs to be a bit careful and try to get used to that artificial turf as soon as possible. All those teams from Norway and Finland always have that advantage of playing on artificial turf," Peršon added. He stressed that for all European teams, not just those from Croatia, going to Scandinavia and playing on artificial turf creates problems because it's a natural environment for the hosts, where they train and play daily.
When asked what Rijeka's players absolutely must not do, Peršon gave clear advice regarding set pieces. "They certainly shouldn't commit fouls near the 16, near the 20 meters. So, don't allow the Finns to threaten the goal from those set pieces, and try to have as few of those set pieces as possible, especially in those dangerous situations, try to keep them as far away as possible," the former international warned.
He concluded that such situations can decide the match: "Those set pieces can decide a match quite a lot. Simply, there's no team anywhere; they get two set pieces, score from both, and the match completely turns in the other direction."
