Micheal Laudrup's Swansea will welcome Group A table toppers, Valencia to the Liberty Stadium on Thursday night, in the hope that they can secure qualification to the knockout stages of the Europa League for the first time in the club's history.
In their previous meeting, the Swans recorded an impressive 3-0 victory in La Mestalla, however ahead of tomorrow's fixture, Swansea City manager, Laudrup, has down the importance of the victory, and believes that it will be a much more challenging tie at the Liberty Stadium:
"The last time we played Valencia, it was under very special circumstances, as they were just recovering from three consecutive defeats in La Liga. They got back on track however, and won three or four games on the trot."
"In Valencia I think we played a great game, but we have to take into account that we played against ten men for 80 minutes."
"It would be nice to repeat the previous result, but it won't be easy. My players realise that tomorrow it will be much more difficult to beat Valencia than it was in the first game."
Swansea can qualify tomorrow night before kick off if Kuban Krasnodar draw with St. Gallen, despite this Laudrup has ensured that his side will attempt win:
"A draw in the early kick off will not change anything for us, we will try to win because we want to top the group.I think we are in a strong position to qualify, now we just have to finish the job."
Ahead of the game, Pablo Hernandez has spoken of his excitement at the opportunity of playing against his former club:
"Personally, this game is very important because I used to play for Valencia, but it is also incredibly important for the whole squad."
"Valencia is a second home to me, as I played there for eight years, and I have a lot of friends there."
Team News:
Swansea - Pablo Hernandez and Wayne Routledge are facing late fitness tests.
Valencia - Alves, Jaume, Pizana, Joao, R. Costa, V. Ruiz, Mathieu, Bernat, Guardado, J. Fuego, Parejo, Oriol, Míchel, Feghouli, Canales, Piatti, Jonas, Fede, Alcácer, Postiga.
