Vitesse Arnhem have been handed a tough test in the Europa League third qualifying round after they were drawn against Premier League side Southampton.

  • By Michael Bell
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0000 bosz feyVitesse were the top unseeded team in the draw, but they face a huge task to reach the next round of the Europa League after being paired with Ronald Koeman’s Southampton.

Koeman started his coaching career at Vitesse in 2000, and admitted he was happy with the draw against the Arnhem side.

He said, “It’s a good draw. I didn’t have any preference but I think a Dutch team is a good one because it’s close for travelling.

“In the possibilities that we had to draw maybe it’s the worst of that, but we have to show that we are a better team than Vitesse.

“It’s nice because it was my first club starting coaching as a head coach, that’s nice to come back.

“We’ll play against a good team and one that likes to play football, and we will see what happens – we are a better team than Vitesse, and we have two games to show that.”

Southampton are in the Netherlands next week to play pre-season friendlies with Feyenoord and Groningen, and Vitesse boss Peter Bosz thinks that may be an advantage for his side.

Bosz said to Vitesse TV, “That gives us plenty of opportunities to see them up close, because I have not yet seen Southampton play this year.”

Vitesse travel to Southampton for the first leg on the 30th of July with the 2nd leg in Arnhem a week later.




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