Eugene Galekovic has backed Adelaide United to upset Liverpool when the Hyundai A-League’s Reds meet their English Premier League counterparts next week.
Liverpool play against a Thai Premier League XI in Bangkok on Tuesday, before arriving in Australia for a clash with Brisbane Roar at Suncorp Stadium two days later.
Then it’s South Australia’s turn to welcome Brendan Rodgers’ heavyweights, who will tackle Josep Gombau’s Westfield FFA Cup holders at a packed Adelaide Oval next week.
Prior to that Adelaide take on another Premier League giant in Manchester City behind closed doors on the Gold Coast.
And despite the pedigree of their forthcoming opponents, captain and goalkeeper Galekovic is backing his team to spring a surprise.
“Definitely we can cause an upset,” Galekovic told FourFourTwo Australia.
“We want to go out there and get a result. You don’t play to stop them from scoring, you play to get a result and we’ll definitely do that.
“We played well against Villarreal in an earlier friendly, and even though we lost 3-2 we deserved to get something from that game – we dominated for 70-75 minutes.
“During the last [Foxtel A-League] All Stars game no one gave us a chance against Juventus and we put on a good show there too.
“It will probably be a little bit different against Liverpool and Manchester City – we are both in our pre-season.
“It’s about getting our fitness levels up and trying to adapt more to our style and prepare ourselves for the season. There a lot of upsets in pre-season and we’ll go out there and give it our best shot.”
The 2015-16 A-League campaign is still three months away, but Adelaide begin their defence of the FFA Cup away to Darwin Olympic on August 5, with Galekovic glad for an opportunity to gain some match practice.
“In terms of the scheduling its great timing for us to use these games as preparation for the FFA Cup game and for the A-League season,” he said.
“There is no excuse getting a slow start this season.”
And regardless of the outcome when Liverpool come to town, the Socceroos shot-stopper is certain the exhibition match will be a career highlight.
“This is a rare occurrence. It’s the first time Adelaide United has played such big teams, and the boys are really looking forward to it.
“You don’t get to play against such teams all the time so it’s one of those games that you will always remember.”
