Champions Birkirkara and Valletta are in high spirits ahead of Saturday’s title showdown at the National Stadium which will decide which team will be crowned as Malta champions for 2013-2014 season.

Birkirkara are on pole to retain the crown as they go into the final Championship Pool match with a two point advantage over Valletta and need just a point to ensure they win the league title for a second successive season.

Representatives from the two title rivals met with the media at the Excelsior Hotel this morning and both looked confident of reaching their objective.

Gareth Sciberras, the Birkirkara captain, said that Birkirkara are approaching the match with the same determination of their previous league matches this season.

“We are looking forward to face Valletta on Saturday,” Sciberras said.

“Throughout this season we have shown great consistency throughout the league campaign and that fills us with belief that if we take the field with the same winning mentality we are confident of taking the point needed and secure our second successive championship.”

Ryan Fenech, the Valletta skipper, said that despite all the ups and downs the team went through during the season they still managed to keep themselves in the hunt for the title and are determined to finish the job.

“Given all the problems we encountered this season, not many people gave Valletta a chance of being able to challenge for the title,” Fenech said.

“But as a team we continued to believe in our ability and we succeeded in putting ourselves in a position to win the title in the final match of the season. It will not be easy to beat Birkirkara but our confidence is high and hopefully come Saturday we will prove that we deserve to win the title.”