Edward Aquilina will be missing four players when his squad faces Dinamo Bucharest tomorrow evening in the Romanian capital.

Noel Turner, Ivan Woods, Orosko Anonam and new signing Zdenek Svoboda will all be missing as Sliema play the first leg of their tie with the strong Romanian opponents.

Bucharest is nothing new for the Sliema mentor. For him, this will be his third visit to the Romanian capital. In 1964 he had played for Sliema and Dinamo in the European Cup. Thirty years later, in 1994, he was coach of Valletta when the Citizens played against Rapid Bucharest.

Aquilina will be making a hat-trick of visits to the Romanian capital, but expects a very tough clash against Dinamo who, last year, were narrowly beaten by city rivals Steaua Bucharest in the same competition.

He said: “It will be no joke. I am sure they will press for goals and we will have to be very cautious, hoping to make few mistakes against such tough opposition.”

The Sliema contingent left Malta at midnight on a direct flight to Cluj. Then they had to travel by bus to Bucharest, a trip of around 500km which would normally take around seven hours.

The following 15 players have made the trip to Bucharest:

Goalkeepers: Murphy Akanji, Henry Bonello.

Defenders: Brian Said, Ian Ciantar, David Carabott, Jeffrey Chetcuti, Mauro DiLello, Lee Lombardi, Alex Muscat.

Midfielders: Roderick Bajada, Stefan Giglio, Claude Mattocks, Chucks Nwoko.

Strikers: J. Mintoff, A. Mifsud.