Coach Pietro Ghedin is confident that Malta can handle the pressure and tension in what promises to be a tough Euro 2016 qualifier against Azerbaijan tomorrow at the Tofiq Bahramov Republican Stadium in Baku (kick-off 6pm, Malta time).

"All games are important for us, even the friendlies because they give is courage and credibility," Ghedin told reporters during the pre-match news conference, held after Malta's training session at the venue of tomorrow's qualifier.

"As for the game against Azerbaijan, I think the two teams are, more or less, of the same level. The Fifa classification suggests otherwise but we are optimistic.

"We believe that we can battle with Azerbaijan on a par."

Azerbaijan were 139th in the latest Fifa rankings, six places above Malta in 145th.

Ghedin declared himself pleased with the preparations of his squad despite the 2-0 defeat to Georgia in Wednesday's friendly.

"We are preparing for this match in the right manner," Ghedin said.

"We have some problems over some players, fitness-wise, but we hope to recover all of them.

"On Wednesday, we played a friendly match against Georgia. I have a lot of admiration for my team because we did well. The defeat was harsh on us but we are optimistic for this game."

Midfielders Roderick Briffa, Paul Fenech and Ryan Fenech missed the Georgia warm-up but their chances of recovering for tomorrow's qualifier look good.

All the pressure is on Azerbaijan to win tomorrow as the oil-rich nation are hellbent on picking up their first three points after losing their opening four qualifiers.

Malta have one point after holding Bulgaria to a 1-1 draw in their last qualifier, played in November.

Most of the questions the Azeri journalists made to Ghedin betrayed a sense of uneasiness ahead of tomorrow's game, leading the Malta coach to say: "Azerbaijan are strong. I can't understand all this fear... I sense a lot of fear in this room.

"Azerbaijan have generally done well but seeing all this anxiety puts me in difficulty... this is the first time this has happened to me."

Malta forward Jean Paul Farrugia approaching tomorrow's qualifier in an upbeat mood.

"I think there's a lot of positive energy in the team," the Hibs forward said.

"The draw against Bulgaria was a good result, one that has clearly lifted our morale."

Kevin Azzopardi has travelled to Azerbaijan courtesy of Turkish Airlines