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Slaven Bilic likened the oppressive heat in Malta to a sauna this afternoon, when speaking during his pre-match press conference this evening.

Bilic, who arrived with his squad for the second leg of their Europa League clash with Birkirkara was surprised by the extreme heat, which even the locals have been complaining about in recent days.

However he believes his squad will be capable of dealing with the adverse conditions as they attempt to secure passage to the third qualifying round, and a meeting with either Inverness CT or Romanian outfit Astra Giurgiu.

"The heat is a problem," he admitted. "When we came it was like a sauna, but we are experienced and should be good enough to dictate the game.

"The score [in the first leg] was not ideal; we were hoping to score one more goal. We should have scored earlier, which we deserved, but in the end we had a positive result - and it should be enough if we score."



And even though they are behind in the tie, Bilic feels that his opponents are unlikely to press from the start - preferring instead to remain compact and defensively solid, as per last Thursday's tie at the Boleyn.

"In the first leg, they went on the pitch as a unit and that impressed me most, as did the two centre-halves and the 'keeper," he said. "I hope they will change their approach, but I don't think they will. They might press, but it's down to us how we let them play."

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