MADRID, September 30 (Xinhua) – Spanish La Liga club Granada must put Sunday’s disastrous performance to Atletico Madrid behind them if they are to book a place in the group stage of the Europa League on Thursday night.
The side coached by Diego Martinez had started their campaign with league wins at home against Athletic Club and Alaves, at the same time as they came through two qualifying rounds in the Europa League, with a 4-0 victory away to Albanian outfit, Teuta and a 2-0 victory at home for Locomotive Tbilisi a week ago.
However, the wheels came loose on Sunday when they crashed to a 6-1 away defeat against Atletico Madrid, which tore apart Granada’s usually solid defense time and time again.
Martinez had set up something that was approaching its strongest side in Wanda Metropolitano Stadium and the only conclusion is that maybe some of them thought about Thursday’s visit to Sweden to play Malmö.
Roberto Soldado will probably replace Jorge Molina in Granada starting 11 on Thursday, while Darwin Machis will probably also start with Antonio Puertas perhaps falling to the bench for the Chinese-owned club.
Malmö crossed past the Croatian side, NK Lokomotiva 5-0 at home in the last qualifier, they have much more European experience than the Spanish side (who make their debut in Europe this campaign) and they are hard to beat at home.
Since 2013, the Swedes have played 30 matches at home, won 18, drawn six and lost six, with defeats coming to powerful sides such as Paris Saint Germain, Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid, Chelsea, Juventus and Wolfsburg to show the size of the task that Granada stands infront of.
Source: sn.dk