The team and the support team landed in Poland on Wednesday afternoon and were taken directly from the airport to the Poznań Stadium. Coach Manfred Schmid and Matthias Braunöder went straight to TV interviews and the press conference, while the rest of the players took a tour of the stadium to familiarise themselves with the surroundings. The Violets had already completed the final training in Vienna-Favoriten at noon.

"The first impressions are very good, we had a pleasant journey and were well received. It's a really cool story that we are playing the Polish champions here in the group stage," said coach Manfred Schmid.

While Austria started with a 0:0 against Hapoel Be'er Scheva, Lech Poznan lost away against the clear group favourites Villarreal with a narrow 3:4: "I expect a strong opponent who showed against Villarreal how good they are, Lech is very strong in two fights and running and especially good in the transition game, they are also tactically very flexible," explains Schmid.

For the Veilchen, the second group game with an eye on the table is important, next up are two games against Villarreal in October: "We put in a very good performance against Hapoel Be'er Scheva, especially in the second half we were clearly the better team and deserved to win. If we want to have a chance to play for promotion, then we are challenged by the result against Lech. We want to get something. We also know that we have to go to our limit to survive here," the Austria coach emphasised.

Personnel news

New signing Nikola Dovedan is not eligible to play in the Conference League group stage, he trained with the team for the first time on Wednesday and will train with the Young Violets in Vienna on Thursday. Lucas Galvao is slightly injured and questionable for Thursday's match, otherwise there is no news regarding the personnel situation.