Salut!

Greetings from Croatia! I am here with Aston Villa as we prepare to launch our Intertoto Cup campaign against Slaven Belupo on Saturday.

I know that this competition has been regarded as somewhat of a joke by some people, but we must remember there is a UEFA Cup place at the end of it for the winners. It worked well for West Ham two years ago, who qualified for the Europe by winning this competition, so that has to be our aim too.

I have been training hard for the past week and am ready for action if I am called upon to play against Slaven Belupo, which I very much hope will be the case. I might have a chance, especially as our summer signings, Mustapha Hadji and Hassan Kachloul, are unavailable for the game because they are on international duty. Plus we are also one striker short after having off-loaded Julian Joachim to Coventry.

This match will be a tough test so early into the season, and I would agree with the gaffer, John Gregory. He said that playing in the Intertoto Cup is not the route he would have chosen but obviously we want UEFA qualification and at the present time this is the only way possible.

It will be a tricky game on a small pitch and will not be easy as we are going into the unknown. The aim will be to take a lead to Villa Park next week, or at least not to have to go into the return leg facing a deficit. In the previous round Slaven Belupo made progress with two 1-0 successes over Bastia, so they have a bit of form coming into this game. Let's wait and see.

Have a nice weekend.

A bientôt,

David Ginola.

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