General
- Wednesday August 21st, 2024 @ 15:45
Match Preview: Saints V Istanbul Basaksehir
The Saints face another huge European tie as they host Turkish side Istanbul Basaksehir on Thursday evening in the UEFA Conference League Play-Off round.
Kick-off at Tallaght Stadium is 7.45pm.
Tickets continues to sell well with the West and East Stands sold out, home tickets remain for the North Stand, with another fantastic atmosphere expected on a big European night.
Tickets are available HERE and from Tallaght Stadium up to kick-off.
The game will also be live on Solid Sport for €10, available worldwide (excluding Turkey) with Oisin Langan and Keith Treacy on commentary.
The Saints come into this game off the back of a superb 2-0 aggregate win against Azerbaijani outfit Sabah FK.
Zack Elbouzedi scored the away winner last Thursday (1-0) with Romal Pamler getting the only goal in the 1-0 first leg victory in Tallaght, to send the Saints through to the fourth round, one tie away from European group stages which they are aiming to qualify for for the first time in their history.
The club made it to this stage of Europe twice before, in 2008 when they lost to Hertha Berlin (UEFA Cup) and 2009 (Europa League), losing to Steaua Bucharest.
In the previous round (QR2), Pat's beat Liechtenstein's FC Vaduz 5-3 on aggregate.
A 3-1 win at Richmond Park with a double from Jake Mulraney and a Joe Redmond finish secured a two-goal advantage before a 2-2 draw in the second leg with goals from both Palmer and Elbouzedi earning a draw and a place in the next round.
Jake Mulraney, Romal Palmer and Zack Elbouzedi are all equal on 2 European goals for the club, joint fourth place in the all-time list for the club with Christy Fagan first with six goals.
OPPOSITION WATCH
Our opponents for this European clash are Istanbul Basaksehir FK.
They beat La Fiorita of San Marino 10-1 on aggregate and Iberia 1999 of Georgia 3-0 on aggregate in their two previous qualifying rounds.
The club was founded in 1990 as Istanbul Buyuksehir Belediyespor (Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Sports Club). They first reached the highest level in Turkish football in 2007/08.
They play their home games at the Basaksehir Fatih Terim Stadium in Istanbul, where St Pat's will be in action in the 2nd leg next Wednesday.
The club is one of eight Super Liga teams based in Istanbul.
They won their first top flight title in 2019-20. They became only the sixth club in the competition's history to win the league title and the fourth club from Istanbul to do so.
They've played group stage football in the Champions League, Europa League and Conference League across the last three season, and beat Manchester United in the Champions League group stages in 2020.
KENNY: "European wins are special, none would be more special than this if the players can achieve that"
Stephen Kenny is no stranger to success in big European ties and hopes that this week's game can be another one to add to his tally after last week's performance in which he oversaw the 1-0 win at Sabah in his 50th European club game as a Manager:
"Preparations have gone quite well. The last couple of days has allowed us to prepare well for Thursday.
This is one of the biggest games in St Patrick's Athletic history, with the chance to get to the group stages.
Our opponents won the Turkish league a couple of years ago, they beat Manchester United in the Champions League.
For us to beat them over two legs, we'll have to absolutely give the performance of our lives.
If we do it, we'll do it the hard way, but we must strive to do that.
European wins are special, none would be more special than this if the players can go and achieve that."
Watch Stephen's full interview and our chat with Jamie Lennon on our YouTube channel.
LENNON: "It's right up there in terms of the big games I've played for St Pat's"
Saints Academy product Jamie Lennon is one of the most experienced players in the current squad, he is second to only Chris Forrester in terms of European appearances for St Pat's (12)and will hope to play a big part in this tie:
"We're really looking forward to it, we've had a good week of preparation now with no game at the weekend so we know it's going to be a big test .
Everyone in the dressing room is looking forward to it, it's a big occasion for the club and for us as players so it can't come quick enough.
The last couple of weeks have been really enjoyable. I think we've shown that we can mix it with teams that are expected to beat us.
Tomorrow will be our toughest test of the lot. Hopefully we get the home support behind us tomorrow night and bring it over to Turkey then next week.
We're playing against a good team playing in a really good league, but we trust in ourselves, the manager, the staff and in our own preparation.
The confidence is high in the team, we've brought in some really good signings in the window there and they've made a huge difference. Hopefully we can put that on show tomorrow.
TEAM NEWS
Cian Kavanagh (back) will miss the game while Alex Nolan (hip) is rated as doubtful.
TICKETS / TV / UPDATES
Tickets are available HERE or from the ticket hut at the Main Reception of Tallaght Stadium.
The game will be live on Solid Sport too.
As always, updates can be found on the Official St Pat's FC App - available now on both the App Store and Play Store.
Updates will also be available across all the club's social media channels and WhatsApp.
