Levski is currently in a rather unenviable position

Levski legend Emil Velev spoke exclusively to Darik Radio and dsport before the derby between CSKA and the Blues on Saturday. The coach, who led Levski to its last championship of Bulgaria, shared that Nikolay Kostov’s team is currently in an unenviable position and added that every derby is for itself.

Stoycho Mladenov: The derby is the tip of the ice cream, in recent years in Levski they have a complex when they play against CSKA

– Historically, we are used to watching the competition between Levski and CSKA for the title, but in recent years things have changed. This one looks even more special because both teams will enter the derby, one fighting for second place and the other for fourth. What is your comment on the specific situation between CSKA and Levski before the match on Saturday?

Well that’s the reality and right now that’s the reality. We see a total superiority of Ludogorets, and the other teams down are fighting for second place and for participation in Europe, which is a bit strange and unfortunate, since Levski and CSKA have the biggest audiences in Bulgaria, and that will always be the most intriguing derby that can be held in Bulgaria.

– Two derbies that are in such a short period of time, how do you play them, even more so after you lost the first one in such a way, in the case of Levski?

Every match, every derby is for itself. It starts again, this will be on Saturday. You can’t predict how things will turn out. We saw at the beginning of the match in the previous derby, Levski was the better team, missed chances. In the second half they made a fatal mistake and that’s why they lost, not that CSKA was better than them. I attribute this to the tension that is always present in these derbies. We know CSKA’s goals – they wanted to be champions, but there is no way they can become champions anymore, while Levski is currently in a rather unenviable position, in 5th place and appears as a match-final every single match, every single match, which means that in the derby you have to play for victory, for three points.

– There is also the fact that when you lose, you are usually put in the role of an outsider in this kind of derby, things turn around. Is it possible for something like this to happen on Saturday?

Yes, you might be right, because I remember back in the day when we beat CSKA 7 times in a row, that was the 80s, you always go into the next derby with a lot more confidence, no fear, confident and confident that you will win in the derby. But then there were much fewer matches. Maybe two derbies were played in one year, right if we exclude some final or semi-final for the Bulgarian Cup when these matches were played, but now we see that they are much more often and maybe they should be used to each other these teams. But it is still not known what will happen in this new derby.

– Will the match from a few days ago have a psychological impact on the “blue” players, considering that they are significantly younger than the opponent?

This should only motivate them to perform better and look for victory in every single second of this derby.

– What do you attribute Levski’s negative results in the three matches against the top three teams in the ranking?

It was seen, especially in the second halves, that Levski’s players fell more physically. I don’t know why this happens. Maybe the coaching staff should be asked. But this was already noticeable in the match with Slavia, the home game of “Gerena”, then in Razgrad, the derby with CSKA, so this is a series of matches where this thing is noticeable, and also perhaps the rather serious rotation of the goalkeeper post, which she was. Plamen Andreev guards with Slavia, with Ludogorets, then Andonov, now he will guard Plamen again, meanwhile guarding the home victory against Beroe. Then when the goalkeepers are changed very often, it is not healthy. They themselves feel insecure.

– This does not help the defense in front of the goalkeepers either, because the synchronization is not good enough.

Yes, we see that there are changes in the defense as well. One time Van der Kaap played, the other time Cordoba with someone else, with Christian Dimitrov, so serious changes there as well.

Stoycho Mladenov to Darik and dsport about the new management of BFS, the quality of the championship and the new stadium of CSKA

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