Bakos reveals Plzen pride

Posted Wednesday, October 02, 2013 by PA

Viktoria Plzen forward Marek Bakos revealed the Czech club had modest ambitions coming into the Champions League but has expressed pride in representing the nation in Europe's premier competition.

The Slovak-born striker is expected to lead the line as Plzen bid to pick up their first points of the Group D campaign away to Russian side CSKA Moscow.

Bakos said: "We are confident, but, on the other hand, modest.

"We want to play a competitive match against every team we face and to get some points out of it."

The game will be played at the Petrovsky Stadium in St Petersburg because of the poor state of CSKA's Arena Khimki pitch.

Both teams will be looking for their first points after losing on matchday one.

CSKA were beaten 3-0 at holders Bayern Munich and Plzen suffered a reverse by the same scoreline at home to Manchester City.

Despite that defeat, Bakos is keen for his team-mates to give a good account of themselves against CSKA as a reward to the club's supporters and also to better the fortunes of Czech football.

He told www.uefa.com: "When we manage to win the title or qualify for the Europa League or Champions League, it's the culmination of our efforts. We're a small club and our fans can appreciate that.

"From the point of view of Viktoria it's very important. And when it comes to the Czech [UEFA] coefficient and representing Czech football abroad, we're glad we are doing a good job and that all Czechs can be proud of us."

Plzen coach Pavel Vrba will look to continue a good unbeaten run which sees his side having won five and drawn two of their last seven games on the road in Europe.

Vrba will be buoyed by a 2-1 away to Vysocina Jihlava on Friday which stretched their Czech Liga unbeaten run to 10 games to leave them in second place, four points behind leaders Sparta Prague.

Right-back Radim Reznik returned from injury on Friday and could feature against CSKA but left-back David Limbersky is a major doubt after sustaining a thigh injury in the same game.

CSKA coach Leonid Slutsky has seen his side go without a win in their last three games in the Russian Premier League, including a 2-0 defeat to Terek Grozny on Saturday.

CSKA, currently fourth in the table and five points behind leaders Zenit, have doubts about midfielder Alan Dzagoev and forward Seydou Doumbia, who both have hamstring injuries.

Definitely out is midfielder Aleksandrs Cauna because of a broken toe.