Rosenborg are playing against Olympiakos without having had a "sparring partner" to test their shape the last three weeks, but Per-Mathias Høgmo has tried to make the best of it.


The planned friendly match against Tromsø on Friday was cancelled due to technical problems on the SAS flight they were on. That means that the the home match against Real Madrid the first of November was he last match RBK played.

"Not having played a match for three weeks is not optimal for our situation, but we have been attack minded and tried to make the most of it. We have done many heavy physical exercices and workouts. It is something we hope is going to help us on the field tomorrow," Høgmo told the reporters attending the afternoon press conference at Lerkendal.

We have also had two good "internal" matches, and at the same time we have been very happy with the weather in the Trondheim region which has given us the possibility to exercise well. We have had two indoor matches, but the rest has been done on outdoor grass pitches.

Several RBK players have also been playing with their respective national squads.

"Jan Gunnar (Solli) did perhaps play his best match for Norway ever against the Czech Republic, while Daniel (Braaten) and Thorstein (Helstad) played two okay halves each. Micke Dorsin also played his best national match of his career against South-Korea, and Lago was on the substitutes bench for Uruguay. They have all gotten many positive experiences," Per-Mathias Høgmo said.

The RBK coach seems to think that, all things considered, the three weeks without having played a single match have not been too bad.

"We seem to be in really good shape. The intensity at our work-outs has been very high, and we are very motivated. Even though we did not get the desired result against Real Madrid last time, we played well."

Høgmo does not think that Olympiakos has the same advantage RBK had in September, when the Greeks were not in in shape due to not having played a match in a long time.

"I think that both the teams are much better at the moment. Olympiakos was in the beginning of their season with many new players which had to find their place, while our playing was not too stable."

"Now we have got a regular starting eleven and taken a step further. It is because of both a change of formation and that we have put in some new players. Tomorrow it will be important to continue our good offensive play, where we are able to use all the free space on the playing field."

"But there is no doubt that we are up against a very good team. They are good with the ball in their feet and have good technical abilities. We therefore have to do our best. We must play well to get to the UEFA Cup, something which is very positive. In the situation we are in now our goal should be to secure the third place," Høgmo concluded.

PS 1! Olympiakos have still not won an away match in the Champions League. In 27 matches the statistics are 0-4-23.

PS 2! We are expecting a visit from many "crazy" Greeks tomorrow. Six chartered planes filled up to the brim with supporters and one bus(!) with 1155 people in total has taken the trip from Athens.