Bruno Peres admits Trabzonspor have a ‘slight advantage’ over Roma in tomorrow’s UEFA Europa Conference League play-off.
The first leg kicks off on Thursday at 18.30 UK time in Turkey, with the decider next Thursday at the Stadio Olimpico.
There will be some familiar faces in the Trabzonspor squad, including ex-Roma players Peres and Gervinho, plus former Napoli captain Marek Hamsik and recently-transferred from Parma Andreas Cornelius.
“It’s a good experience for me, I’m getting to see another culture and hopefully we can achieve our objectives,” Peres told Sky Sport Italia.
“Gervinho and Hamsik are two good friends as well as great players. I played a lot last season, we did really well in the Europa League and I always said that I wanted to extend my contract with Roma, but this opportunity came up and I didn’t think twice about joining Trabzonspor.”
This is Roma’s first competitive match of the 2021-22 season under new coach Jose Mourinho, whereas Trabzonspor already pushed past Molde in the two-legged Conference League qualifiers and played a 5-1 Turkish Super Lig win away to Malatyaspor on Monday.
“I think the fact we started the season earlier does give us a slight advantage and we’ll try to be intelligent to make the most of that. Having the stadium at 50 per cent capacity is also wonderful, we’ve felt the passion and affection of our fans.”
Peres is not just a former Roma player, but his wife is also from the Italian Capital.
“I kept in contact with many of the players, so it’ll be nice to see my friends again. Some of us know the city and its fans very well, so it’ll be beautiful going back to the Olimpico, but right now we must stay concentrated on this match and trying to progress to the tournament proper.”