City well prepared for huge Djurgardens IF test

CORK City take a step up in class tonight at the Rasunda Stadium when they meet Swedish title contenders Djurgardens IF in a UEFA Cup second qualifying round first leg tie (6pm Irish time).

The bookmakers’ odds are firmly stacked in favour of the home side with one Irish internet firm rating the Leesiders as 6/1 outsiders to repeat their feat in Lithuania last month of taking an away victory back to Turner’s Cross for the second leg in a fortnight.

It is not difficult to see why, with the Djurgarden head coach Kjell Jonevret having assembled a likely team containing eight internationals - five for Sweden, two for Finland and a Gambian - which until Monday night had led the Swedish premier division for most of the season in a tight race with perennial big guns Malmo and IFK Gothenburg.