Beard: Brescia a tough test, but we can beat them
Liverpool Ladies manager Matt Beard is under no illusions as to the size of the task his team faces as they prepare to take on Brescia in Italy on Wednesday night, in the last 32, first leg tie of the Women’s Champions League.
With the second leg to come at the Select Security Stadium in Widnes on October 14, the manager is hoping his charges can rise to the occasion and show what they are all about as they try to reach the final stages of the competition for the first time in their history.
Injuries have taken their toll domestically on the squad this season as for long spells the Ladies have been without the influence of England hero Fara Williams, Nigerian star Asisat Oshoala, and arguably their player of the season Becky Easton.
American goalkeeper Libby Stout missed Sunday’s final Women’s Super League game away at Bristol Academy through injury, and Beard will have his fingers crossed that his star players will be available for the game.
Both legs are exclusively live on LFCTV, and Beard knows his team will have to be at their very best to be successful.
He told Liverpoolfc.com: “Brescia are a good team. Out of all the teams we could have got in the draw, this is probably the toughest one we could have got out of all the unseeded teams.
“They’ve got 10 full Italian internationals so we are basically going to be playing against the Italy national team.
“They are an organised and typically Italian side. Defensively, they are organised, but from our point of view there is definitely some weaknesses they have that we can exploit.
“They are very dangerous on set plays and that’s something we need to be mindful of, but if we can get players like Fara Williams and Asisat Oshoala back we should be in a position where I think we can hurt them.”
Last season the Reds lost 4-2 on aggregate to the Swedish outfit Linkopings, when a 3-0 second-leg defeat in Sweden saw Beard’s team crash out of the competition.
He added: “It’s going to be an intriguing tie. I learned a lot of lessons from our defeat to Linkopings last year.
“We’ve got the second leg to come at home and generally our form at home over the last few years has been very good.
“It gives us the opportunity to maybe get some more players back for the second leg and hopefully we can lead the team to a bit more history and get to the latter stages of the tournament.”
Brescia suffered a 14-0 aggregate defeat to French outfit Lyon last season, but Beard has warned his players not to read too much into that scoreline.
He said: “They’ve strengthened their side a lot since then and any team playing a side like Lyon will always be in for a tough time, because they have some of the best players in the world. That would have been a baptism of fire for them.
“It’s a tie I think is winnable, as long as we can get our key players fit.
“We need to go out there and give a good account of ourselves.”