Arbnor Muja has not been included in the team in Antwerp for the match against Lillestrom, which belongs to the third qualifying round of the Conference League. Antwerp hosts Lillestrom in the second leg on Thursday from 19:30 in Belgium. The first duel between these two teams, played last week in Norway, ended with a 3:1 victory for Antwerp. Muja was not included in the team for this match, as he still does not have the right to play in the UEFA competitions, while the coach of Antwerp, Mark Van Bommel, said that the Kosovar attacker needs some more training to be ready for his debut. .
Van Bommel at the press conference on Wednesday admitted that Muja is likely to be called up for the championship game, which Antwerp plays on Sunday away to Eupen. The winger held his first training session with the new team on Tuesday. He was transferred to the Belgian team last week from Drita and signed a three-year contract with Antwerp with the option to continue for another year. Muja will wear number 11 in Antwerp.
"I would like Muja, Ekkelenkamp and Avila to play some minutes, but they are still not eligible to play in Europe. Muja has not yet completed a full training session with the group and he needs some time to be ready", said Van Bommel. "We play so many matches that it is impossible to organize friendlies for young players to get minutes. Muja is not far away in minutes and I believe that he will be ready soon".
However, Muja is likely to debut in the Belgian championship this weekend. Antwerp's duel with Eupen belongs to the fourth round. Currently, Antwerp is the leader with nine points collected after three games played.
"After Lillestrom, we return to the selection of 18 players for the championship match. A month, but the other two reinforcements may have minutes, but maybe not from the beginning," Van Bommel admitted. "They are getting ready and first they have to be in the best physical shape, as the level of training is high. This is traditional adaptation for every player".
Antwerp signed Muja after knocking out Drita in the second qualifying round of the Conference League. The first duel in Belgium ended without goals, while in the return game played in Pristina, Antwerp triumphed with the numbers 2:0. In both matches, Muja was among the most distinguished players in the Kosovar team. If Antwerp knock out Lillestrom then they will progress to the play-off stage and will be just two games away from qualifying for this season's Europa League group stage.
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Van Bommel has said that he is satisfied with the work of the club's sporting director, Marc Overmars, that he has done so far in terms of reinforcements.
"He did a good job, it's important to have a good team because the goals are big", said Van Bommel, who took over Antwerp before the start of this season. He also worked as a coach at Wolfsburg in Germany and PSV Eindhoven in the Netherlands.
