On the day Santa Clara left for North Macedonia, the official gave Lusa a preview of the European presence planned for Thursday during a meeting against Shkupi at the European League Conference.
Santa Clara leader Rui Cordeiro said on Tuesday that he is “the most proud president of Portuguese football” and said the Azores team can face any rival “face to face” in the League of the Conference of Europe (LCE).
On the day the team left for North Macedonia, the manager gave Lusa a preview of Santa Clara’s European presence, scheduled for Thursday, during a meeting with Shkupi at the European League Conference.
“I sincerely believe that we have all the conditions to go through this match and face any opponent. We are made of fiber and Azorean soul and we are ready for all the battles we have to face, ”he said. …
Rui Cordeiro said he was confident in the “intelligence” of the technical team and expressed the hope that the players “enjoy the moment with a sense of responsibility” for “representing the Azores in Europe.”
“At the moment, Santa Clara can and should play two good games against Shkupi, a very high-quality team that, like us, will want to move on to the next stage of the competition. Bonus, ”he said.
In the 2020/21 season, Santa Clara finished sixth in the first league of football, reaching the European qualifications for the first time, despite the Azores team competing in the 2002 Intertoto Cup by invitation.
“Basically, this is the first time that Santa Clara has reached this level as a result of participation in the championship last year, but above all, it is the result of a joint effort,” he said.
He added: “It is a feeling of great satisfaction and pride. So far we have had Santa Clara representing the Azores region in the country. Starting Thursday, we will have Santa Clara representing the region in Europe. “
Rui Cordeiro said he was “stunned” when faced with the Azores’ “path” in recent years: “I am the proud president of Portuguese football.”
Asked if the European presence could have a negative impact on the stability of the club in the first league, Rui Cordeiro said that this is not “too big a step” for Santa Clara.
Cordeiro stressed that the team is not on tiptoe and is not “bourgeois”, noting that “there has never been anything surprising in the Azores team”, stressing that the goal for the 2021/22 season is “to consistently support” in the first place. echelon.
“Our secret has always been humility, the ability to work and the ability to adapt to adversity. The recipe is to keep going forward. We are on the alert and remember the clubs that qualified for Europe and then dropped out of it. The same position that brought us here will not happen, ”he concluded.
The official Santa Clara season kicks off with the second qualifying round of the Europa Conference League, in which the Azores will face off against the Macedonians from Shkupi on 22 and 29 July in their first game in Skopje.
If they qualify, Santa Clara will face Olimpia Ljubljana or Birkirkara in the next leg of a new European draw dictated by the draw to be held on Monday in Nyon, Switzerland.