Tromsø coach ahead of return leg with Hradec Králové: we're not reinventing our preparation, we're sticking to our habits

Norwegian side Tromsø are preparing for the second-leg clash of the Conference League's second qualifying round against Czech club Hradec Králové, set to take place on Thursday in Hradec Králové. The hosts came away with a narrow 1:0 win in the first leg in Norway, yet bookmakers still consider the Norwegians favourites for the return fixture.

Tromsø coach Vik said the team was pleased with the training pitch in Czechia: "It's a hybrid pitch, which is a bit similar to our artificial surface back home. It's firm and cut short, so the ball rolls very quickly on it," the coach noted. According to him, this kind of surface suits the team's usual fast, combination-based style of play.

Team captain Ruben Yttergård Jenssen backed up his coach's comments, adding that training sessions on the local pitch had gone very well. Vik himself, meanwhile, sees nothing unusual about the upcoming trip: "For us, this is just a normal away match. We're working to our usual routine and not rethinking our preparation in any special way. We're sticking to what we know," the coach said.

Despite the long flight from a city where the sun barely dips below the horizon at this time of year, around four hundred Tromsø fans are expected to travel to Hradec Králové to support the team. Captain Jenssen spoke enthusiastically about the atmosphere awaiting them: "The stadium is beautiful. With a capacity of over nine thousand, we're in for a great atmosphere, and our fans will definitely make themselves heard."

Straight after Thursday's match, the team will fly by charter directly from Czechia to Ålesund, where a Norwegian league fixture awaits them on Saturday following a week-long break. The Tromsø coach commented with a touch of irony on the use of a charter flight: "A charter flight is completely normal. Otherwise, we couldn't call ourselves a professional football club! If other teams playing in European competitions were offered a regular scheduled flight instead, they'd probably rather just stay home," he joked.

But first, the Norwegians face a decisive showdown in Hradec Králové — the winner of the tie will advance to the third qualifying round of the Conference League. The Czech side go into the return leg with a slim one-goal advantage from the first match in Norway.

Around Prague, based on reporting by sport.cz