Levante midfielder Pape Diop does not believe that Levante will come unstuck against Rubin Kazan due to Obafemi Martins’ departure or the cold.
Los Granotes head into the Europa League Last 16 second leg away to the Russians with a 0-0 aggregate score on the board.
It is their first game since Martins bought out his contract in order to complete a move to Seattle Sounders.
“We will not miss him. We knew that the issue with Oba was complicated. He eventually left,” surmised Diop in his pre-match Press conference.
“Now what we have remaining is a good squad. We do not need motivation, as this is an historic match.
“[Today] we have the opportunity to get into the quarter-finals and continue making history. We have great motivation to overcome the cold temperatures [expected to be below freezing].
“I do not believe that any of my teammates will stop to think about the cold, or fear that the cold will stop us playing our game.
“Have we been a surprise this year? No. The team is showing a maturity and the group is phenomenal.
“We all have dreams. One of mine is to play in European games. We are competing game by game and then we will see what we can achieve.”
