Unfazed by his first ever visit to the Asian continent, Brisbane Roar right-back Ivan Franjic is focusing on bringing the three points home.
Unfazed by his first ever visit to the Asian continent, Brisbane Roar right-back Ivan Franjic is focusing on bringing the three points home.
The Roar travel to chilly China immediately after this weekend-s Hyundai A-League fixture against Newcastle Jets at Hunter Stadium, flying out of Sydney on Sunday morning ahead of their AFC Champions League clash with Beijing Guoan on Tuesday night.
For Franjic, the trip will mark his first trip to Asia but his excitement was reserved solely for the football at hand.
“We-re definitely excited, we-ve been around Australia a fair few times so to go to Asia is going to be something new and we-re awaiting the challenge,” he said.
“My main preparation has been for the game.
“We want to progress in the Champions League so I don-t want to focus on anything but the football.
“It might be tough but we-re professionals and we-ve got to get used to it and at the end of the day, there are no excuses.”
Brisbane were given a shock in their opening AFC Champions League fixture, unable to find their usual rhythm against a slick-passing FC Tokyo side who scored either side of the break to record a 2-0 win.
But Franjic was confident that it would be different second time round when three points are up for grabs against the Chinese Super League outfit.
“The Champions League is a faster competition and you get a lot less time on the ball,” he said.
“It-s a much tougher competition and we learnt a lot in that first game so we-re ready for the second game.
“It-s hard to take positives when you lose but the positive is that we have five games to go and come Tuesday night, it-s so important for us to get three points and go on from there.”
