THE official website of Russian club Krylya Sovetov Samara described their Europa League defeat by St Patrick's Athletic as the "darkest day" in the club's history.

Already, the Saints' opponents in the next stage of their remarkable European adventure are predicting even worse, with the main man at former European Cup winners Steaua Bucharest claiming that his club will simply quit football if they lose out on a place in the Europa League group stages at the hands of the Dubliners.

Their confidence is well placed, as Steaua were in the group stages of the Champions League for the last three seasons (although they managed only two points from 12 group games in the last two seasons), but great expectations also bring the burden of great pressure, and that suits Pats just fine.

"Given their history, their pedigree and the size of the club, they are massive favourites and on paper it's a massive task, but you don't win games on paper," Pats boss Jeff Kenna told the Herald in Bucharest this morning after their arrival in the Romanian capital last night.

MOTIVATION

"Apparently their club president said that Steaua will quit football if they lose out to us, so if ever we needed more motivation, we have it. It would be nice to ram that down someone's throat by winning the game or the tie.

"I don't think that anyone gives us a prayer in this tie, so if we can cause an upset then we'd be very happy to do that.

"I don't think we need any more motivation. The lads in the squad know exactly what's at stake -- to win this tie and make the group stages of the Europa League would be the biggest achievement of their careers. It would be even more fantastic given our league form and how we tend to blow hot and cold in the games back home," added Kenna.

Blowing hot and cold is a bit of an understatement. Pats have been superb in their European games, over the last two years but especially this season, yet domestic form has been so poor, as Pats showed with their scoreless draw away to Division One side Monaghan United in the FAI Cup last Friday.

"Monaghan, last week, got a lot of players behind the ball and were tough to break down, just like we are against other teams in Europe, so that's a challenge to deal with," Kenna added, aware that Steaua tonight pose a stiff, though not impossible, challenge.

"Steaua are as good as Krylya Sovetov, whether they are a step up in class from them I'm not too sure. I hope that me saying that doesn't come back to bite me on the backside, but I think they are on a level with the last team we played," the Pats boss says.

"We have had them watched and studied, we watched their game against Cluj in the league from last week. They play a 4-4-2, they are very adventurous going forward and that leaves them a bit open at the back. We will have to be at our best, they are a good team but they are not, in my eyes, a step up in class from Krylya.

"They have a lot of good players in the squad. Pawel Golanksi is a Polish international, he's a right back but in the game I saw against Cluj he was more like a right winger, a really good player.

"Banel Nicolita on the left is a good player, Romeo Surdu up front is very talented as well, and Andrei Ionescu in the middle is very good on the ball -- every one of them is comfortable on the ball.

"Now, in the game I saw, when Steaua were under pressure they resorted to long balls and kicking the ball out for throw-ins, so they are not Barcelona, by any means."

There was a significant media presence at Bucharest's Otopeni Airport last night as Pats arrived in the city, interest in the game perhaps even more keen as Steaua fans are banned from the game due to incidents involving their fans in an earlier round of the competition in Hungary, and Kenna is still unsure how the factors of a 28,000-seater stadium with no fans will play out. "The idea if playing a game behind closed doors will be new to me, especially as it's a game of such high importance. You can't really prepare for it so I don't know how we will react on the night. It will be strange for both teams, hopefully it will affect them more than us and it will spur us on," he said.

"We have a lot of European experience, compared to many players. In my career I only ever played six games in Europe, while lads like Damien Lynch and Jamie Harris have played 20 or 25 European games each. Their experience is vast, better than anything I did in Europe as a player, and we have to use that to our benefit. We've done that in the last two rounds and now we have to do it again."

Pats have a clean bill of health for the game as injury worries over Jamie Harris and Ryan Guy were eased when they took part in a training session in Dublin yesterday before the three-hour flight to Romania.

"Everyone trained OK in Dublin before we left yesterday so we have a full squad to pick from. Now I have to decide what to do with the team, because having people like Mark Quigley and Gary Dempsey fully fit gives me options and gives me food for thought. I will discuss it with the staff and see what options we come up with," added Kenna.