Today at 3:05 p.m. ET, Swansea City and Kuban Krasnodar square off in UEFA Europa Group A action live from Liberty Stadium in Wales. The game can be live streamed here.
Swansea City enters at the top of Group A after victories over Valencia and St. Gallen, while Krasnodar is at the bottom after losing to both of those squads. A win for Swansea will be a step towards being on the brink of advancing to the last 32, and chances are good for them as Krasnodar hasn't registered a win in its last nine games.
Swansea Coach Michael Laudrup knows from experience not to take Krasnodar too lightly, even if it coming in struggling.
"I remember it well, because in May 1992 I won the Champions League at Wembley with Barcelona against Sampdoria," Laudrup explained. "Just after that, the following November, we had to play a playoff before going into the group stage. We played CSKA and drew 1-1 away. Then we were 2-0 up after 30 minutes of the home leg and everybody thought it was done, but we lost 3-2."
He added: "It does not hurt so much now as I had won the competition a few months earlier, but it was a big surprise."
Laudrup plans for no surprises from Krasnodar today as he wants his team to be prepared and play as if their opponents on the pitch weren't struggling.
Swansea has tough trips to Russia and Switzerland coming up, and Laudrup has stressed to his team the importance of gaining some momentum before those visits.
"We're at home, we'll be favorites and we're on top of the group and want to win for a lot of reasons," he told ESPN.
If Swansea is to succeed, they'll have to do it without their captain and defender Ashley Williams who remains sidelined with a ligament problem in his ankle. Left-back Ben Davies is also out with an ankle sprain that will keep him sidelined until November. Laudrup has expressed confidence in Jordi Amat and Neil Taylor, as he expects them to carry the load.
"Unfortunately people get injured and no one knows that better than Neil," said Laudrup. "Jordi is the same. But it's part of football and I always try to use the squad because suddenly you will need a player for four or five consecutive games for reasons like this."
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