Richardson waves Milan carrot

Cork City boss Damien Richardson has no qualms about using the AC Milan carrot to motivate and inspire his players ahead of tomorrow’s Champions’ League return with Red Star here in Belgrade (8.15pm local time).

Cork go into their mid-week second leg tie with the Serbian double champions a goal down from last week yet anything but down and out.

“We are tantalisingly close to a breakthrough now into the group stages and when you see Cork up there in the same draw as Milan and Red Star you can sense it,” he said.

“It’s no fluke that we are in this position and if we can win here in Belgrade then we can live the dream next week and get to play in the San Siro,” Richardson said.

“I am confident about John O’Flynn now and more confident than I was with him before the first leg.

“I think he will play for us this time and it looks like Brian O’Callaghan will come in for the suspended Dan Murray at the back.

“The team performed to an extraordinary high standard last week and players like Cillian Lordan and Admir Softic who came in for us deserve to stay in the side now.

“What pleased me in the first leg was that tactically everyone stuck to their responsibilities. Physically and mentally we were in great condition too and we know we matched Red Star once.

“Now we have to try and do it all over again,” said the City boss, in the wake of the George O’Callaghan transfer saga.

“The thing now is that we are talking about AC Milan, Red Star Belgrade and Cork City all in the same breadth and that shows you the progress we have made.

“AC Milan is the carrot out there for us now and that’s the ultimate step up for my players. It’s tantalisingly close and this will spur us on.

“We have made some wonderful progress in the last two years ago and now we have a chance to take it to an entirely new level and get a crack at AC Milan who are one of the superpowers of the game,” enthused Richardson.

“We did well in the first leg but we didn’t win and now we have to try and overturn a 1-0 deficit away from home.

“We have to win now but let’s go there to win. I think we can all understand the difficulties we have with Joe, Danny and Dan all suspended and we can understand the enormity of the task.

“But let’s go out with an attitude and a team spirit that says we can win this match.”

Article courtesy of The Evening Echo newspaper