Malta coach Ray Farrugia has rubbished talk of a Maltese vendetta over the infamous 12-1 defeat sufferd to Spain in Sevilla in 1983 and said that his only concern is to see his players maintain their progress when they face La Roja in a Euro 2020 qualifier at a sell-out National Stadium tonight (kick-off: 8.45pm).

The national team head into today’s match against the Spanish Armada in high spirits following Saturday’s 2-1 win over the Faroe Islands that ended a 13-year wait for a home win in a competitive match.

But while the Maltese media have been focusing on the vast improvement shown by Farrugia’s clan against the Faroes, their Spanish counterparts inundated their country’s media sections yesterday with stories about Spain’s extraordinary 12-1 win over Malta in December 1983 that sealed their passage to the 1984 European Championship. 

However, Farrugia refused to be drawn on the most humiliating night in the history of Maltese football and was only focused on his team’s preparations for a match that pits them against what he described as 'one of the best teams in the world’.

“We know we are playing against one of the best teams in the world,” Farrugia told a news conference.

“I’m a big fan of Spanish football and I have no doubt that it will be a very interesting match for all football lovers here in Malta.

“It has already been confirmed that the we will have a full capacity and hopefully we can put up another good performance.”

With Farrugia being one of the players that played in that controversial night in Sevilla, it was inevitable that he was subjected to several questions from the Spanish media on that match. However,  he gave little away on his memories of that game.

“That match is in the past, it was played long time ago and sincerely I don’t have much memories. I just remember that I suffered an injury that left me in crutches and after the match I headed back to my club in Australia,” the former Melita Eagles player said.

“I prefer to focus on the present team which is a blend of youth and experienced players. This is the first time that the Maltese national team has brought in several young players in the squad and we are trying to build a team for the future.

“This is the only way forward for us if we want to help Maltese football to continue to improve.”

Asked whether this match represented a chance of revenge for Maltese football, Farrugia responded:

“In life I don’t believe in vendettas. This is football and should be something that brings people together.

“So we are just focused to play another good match and make our fans proud.”

Farrugia said that he has yet to make a decision on his starting formation as he is assessing a couple of injuries, particularly midfielder Rowen Muscat who picked up a knock against the Faroes.

The Malta coach will surely be forced to make one change from the team that lost to the Faroe Islands as defender Andrei Agius must serve suspension following his red card on Saturday.

“Andrei is surely a big loss for us as he is one of our leaders. But I have a lot of faith in all the players in my squad and I’m sure that whoever, comes in can do a good job.”

On his part, Paul Fenech said that all the players were looking forward to face a ‘super power’ such as Spain.

“Facing a team of the calibre of Spain is always a great experience for all of us,” the Balzan midfielder said.

“It’s true that we have some young players in our squad but surely they are not short of experience. If you look at the likes of Joseph Mbong and Joseph Corbalan they have been with us for a few matches now so they know what to expect.

“We’re raring to go and hopefully we can make life difficult for Spain.”