Viktoria Plzen midfielder Kalvach: ‘Inter weaker without Lukaku’

Lukas Kalvach was hopeful that Viktoria Plzen could secure a positive result in their Champions League game against Inter tomorrow.

The 27-year-old Czech midfielder is one of the key players in the Viktoria Plzen squad, playing every available minute in the Champions League qualifying stages and their opener against Barcelona last week. Inter expect a strong result against their Czech opposition, needing to redeem themselves after a frustrating 2-0 loss to Bayern Munich in their European opener.

Speaking in a press conference, Kalvach first discussed if he expects the Inter clash to be more or less difficult than their opener against Barcelona.

“It’ll be very difficult, but we play at home, so I hope we’ll be able to give something more.”

He spoke about what he expects from the Nerazzurri in tomorrow’s match.

“As I said, we expect a difficult game. We’re coming from a match like Barcelona, so it should be easier, we already know what to expect.”

The 27-year-old suggested that Viktoria Plzen have a better chance of picking up points against Inter than their other opponents in Group C.

“We can say that Inter are more playable, but we must always prepare ourselves, be 100% ready, don’t leave space for them to play well.”

Kalvach spoke about the absence of star striker Romelu Lukaku, who returned from Chelsea on a dry loan in the summer.

“Surely they’re weaker, he’s one of the best players in the world, but there’s also Dzeko who knows how to be dangerous.”

He commented on the higher pace of the game in the Champions League.

“Speed is an important difference, but also the ability to play with the ball. In the Champions League there are top players, we have to measure ourselves against them.”

The 27-year-old reacted to Inter’s edgy 1-0 win over Torino on the weekend.

“We watched the last part of the game against Torino, when they scored. It was very interesting, our strength is that we’ll be playing at home and we hope for points because of that.”

Finally, Kalvach discussed which Inter player he’s most afraid of.

“The forwards, both Dzeko and Lautaro, but the midfielders are also very strong.”