In all, Anderlecht manager Herman Van Holsbeeck is satisfied with the Europa League draw. When you look at the other teams in our group, I think that qualification should be possible. Zenit St. Petersburg may be the favourite, but we will go for the full three points against the Russians as well as against AEK Athens and Hajduk Split. We have the ambition to qualify for the next round."

"The first match will be very important. On paper, Zenit is the number one favourite in this group, so if we were to start with a good result at home... we would make a giant step in the right direction", Van Holsbeeck realized. "The fact that we play our final match at home could also be an advantage, if we still need points at that moment to be sure of qualification", he said. "Maybe these are not really top matches, but they are all teams we should be able to do something against. We have the ambition to stay in Europe after the winter break and to maybe even do better than last season."

Ariël Jacobs : "These matches will not be easy to win"

Coach Ariël Jacobs realizes that the Europa League draw is no godsend. "Those are all wonderful holiday destinations for citytrips", the coach smiled, "but when it comes to football, they are less fun. These matches will not be easy to win and, frankly, I think that the level of the group will be higher than last season. The teams will be closer to each other, even more so than last year", the T1 stated. "When you look at the teams that play the Europa League now, for that matter, I think it is almost a Champions League-b. Definitely when you compare it to a few years ago, a lot has changed."