Marko Nikolic: Partizan have nothing to lose against Tottenham

Partizan Belgrade head coach Marko Nikolic believes his side have “nothing to lose” when they take on Tottenham Hotspur in the Europa League this Thursday.

Nikolic’s team are Spurs’ first opponents in the group stage of the competition for a match in Serbia.

Partizan, who have won the Serbian title 25 times, finished second in the SuperLiga last term and began this season with an away goals defeat by Ludogorets in the UEFA Champions League third qualifying round.

They remain unbeaten in all 11 of their matches this campaign.

However, Nikolic feels his side will be the underdogs when they face Mauricio Pochettino’s team.

"Of course you have nothing to lose in this match," said the Partizan head coach.

"We managed to bring back a good competitive rhythm in the game with [Saturday's 4-2 league win against] Cukaricki and now we have the strongest possible opponents at the beginning of this competition, Tottenham.

"Partizan have partially fulfilled its goal by making the group stage, but I do not want to be mere participants. I want to try to compete at this level, to show how much power we have.

"We will not make big promises, but we will try to win this match as we do with every match."

Partizan will be without Andrija Zivkovic and Darko Brasanac on Thursday through injury, while Peter Skuletic is banned after being sent off against Neftci in the play-offs.