Gzira United know that they face an uphill task when on Thursday they will come face to face again with Serbia's Radnicki Nis in the UEFA Europa League first qualifying round, 2nd Leg at the Centenary Stadium, Ta' Qali, kick-off time 18:00 hours.

Last week Gzira succumbed to a clear 4-0 first leg defeat against the powerful Serbians. Both Gzira United head coach Darren Abdilla and Radnicki's assistant coach Dragana Šarca spoke about their team's chances ahead of Thursday's match.

Asked if Gzira United really face a mammoth task to overturn the 4-0 first leg deficit, head coach Darren Abdilla confirmed that it would be so.

"The 4-0 first leg result can be interpreted in many manners but it was characterised by many mistakes from our side. At this level you cannot commit any errors. If you do you are immediately punished and this paved the way for a comfortable result in favour of Radnicki. Of course here I would like to mention the potential this team generates. They come very close to the two big giants of Serbian football, Red Star and Partizan. Radnicki Nis are on a totally different level.

"Tomorrow we will be playing at home. I do expect some changes and see how things go. This has been our real first experience at club level in European competitions and of course these matches are played on a different tempo - something which we lack in our domestic competitions.

"We are doing our best to assemble a squad to be the best on the island and why not, yes challenge for the title."

Dragana Šarca, Radnicki's assistant coach spoke highly of Gzira United: "I reckon Gzira United as one of the best teams in Malta so we have got to have respect for our adversaries in this second leg.  We will treat the match as if the first leg has finished 0-0. We know the kick-off time (18:00 hours) and the humid conditions will not be as we would have liked them to be but we are here to finish the job, qualify and subsequently meet Maccabi in the next round of the competition. Domestically we want to be the best in Serbia."

29-year-old Radnicki Nis striker Nermin Haskic also spoke about the humid conditions and the hot weather that could condition the match.

"Of course the hot humid weather and the venue could be of an advantage to our opponents, Gzira, but we have to play and adapt ourselves for half an hour and all will be ok."

Gzira United's Roderick Briffa will become Malta's first player to have totalled 41 appearances in European club competitions if he participates in the match against Radnicki Nis.