Brondby vs Hibernian FC - 'It wouldn't be a massive shock if Hibs hit back to beat Brondby' - 7M sport

Brondby vs Hibernian FC - 'It wouldn't be a massive shock if Hibs hit back to beat Brondby'



Posted Thursday, July 21, 2016 by PA

Neil Lennon does not believe a Hibernian victory against Brondby would rank as a major European shock.

The Easter Road side trail the Danish big guns 1-0 ahead of Thursday's Europa League second qualifying round return clash in Copenhagen after goalkeeper Otso Virtanen's gaffe last week handed their opponents the initiative.

Lennon knows that is an unfortunate position to be in, especially against an outfit as battle hardened in European competition as Brondby.

But the Northern Irishman has belief in his players and while the Leith side may only compete in Scotland's second tier and lack experience at this level, he reckons few eyebrows would be raised if Hibernian found a way to dispense with the 10-time Danish title winners.

Lennon said: "Brondby are a very good European team. They are one of the top teams in Scandinavia. We are obviously the underdogs going into the game but to me it wouldn't be a massive surprise if we could overturn this.

"For a lot of players, though, it is their first time playing away in a European environment so they are going to have to acclimatise very quickly."

The former Celtic boss is still to decide if Finn Virtanen will keep his place after gifting Brondby their first-leg winner just 16 seconds into last week's Edinburgh meeting.

But he believes the rest of his side are capable of testing the Danes.

"Brondby have an away goal but the premise is the same," he said. "Even if we had kept it at 0-0 we still would have had to score in Denmark, so there is now that little bit of extra difficulty to the tie.

"But we're a week fitter and the players have had a good look at Brondby now, so there will be no surprises.

"We hope we can get a result. We played very well and what pleased me was the physical side. We actually finished the game quite strong and considering how early in our preparations it was, it was a very good performance.

"We need to improve on it now. There was a wee bit of rustiness and we needed just a little bit more quality in the final third.

"We will create chances, I'm sure."



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