MAGNUS HAGLUND today continued to attempt to play mind games with Hibs, claiming the Edinburgh outfit are favourites to win Sunday's InterToto Cup clash with his side IF Elfsborg.
Although the Swedish outfit are riding high in the Allsvenskan, sitting second just three points behind leaders Kalmar, boss Haglund insists they will go into the match at Easter Road as underdogs. It's a claim Hibs manager Mixu Paatelainen has rejec
ted, pointing out that Elfsborg are halfway through their season while this will be his team's first match just two weeks into pre-season training. But today Haglund dismissed Paatelainen's point of view.
He said: "It's good we are in the middle of our season because I believe the Scottish league is ranked higher than ours. You have two outstanding teams in Scotland in Celtic and Rangers but there are other good sides and I count Hibs among them. Hibs have more money to spend on players' salaries so they should be a stronger team than we are. I think they are favourites and it is going to be a tough game."
Paatelainen was an interested on-looker as Elfsborg restarted their league season after a month's break to accommodate Sweden's Euro 2008 campaign by beating Djugarden 2-0 on Wednesday.
While Paatelainen was following up an earlier spy mission conducted by coach Gareth Evans, Haglund's only first-hand knowledge of Hibs will be based on a report by his assistant Jesper Bengtsson, who took in the Easter Road club's final game of last season, a 2-0 defeat at home to Motherwell.
However, Haglund claimed to know little about Paatelainen's players. But he admitted the win in Stockholm had lifted his spirits following a disappointing 0-0 draw last weekend against HB Torshavn even although his team had beaten the side from the Faroe Islands 4-1 a week earlier to earn the right to face Hibs.
He said: "We played well, it was a difficult game in Stockholm. We got off to a good start with two goals in the first 14 minutes which allowed us to control the game.
"But I don't think we can count on such a start in Edinburgh. We know Scottish football is played at a furious pace, that the teams have good engines. It will be very hard."
Elfsborg factfileFormed: 1904
Home: Boras Arena (capacity 16,989)
Seasons in the top division: 64
Champions: 1936, 1939, 1940, 1961, 2006
Swedish Cup Winners: 2001, 2003
Biggest win: 12-2 against Eskilstuna in 1936
Most appearances: Sven Jonasson, 409, Karl-Erik Grahn, 346, Leif Målberg, 337
Current top player: Anders Svensson – 93 caps for Sweden.
Most goals: Sven Jonasson, 252 (all-time league record)
Seasons in Champions League: 2007
Seasons in the UEFA Cup: 1971, 1978, 1980, 1983, 2001, 2003, 2007
The full article contains 478 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
