Martin Moormann is confident his early European experiences at Rapid Vienna will help Motherwell in their Conference League play-off against HJK. The defender faced Dinamo Zagreb, West Ham United and Genk during his time in Austria, coming up against the likes of Jarrod Bowen and Andriy Yarmolenko in the 2021-22 season.
Rapid rise to European football
Moormann said: "It was a great experience. I was in the second team at this moment and everything went very quickly. Within one week I made my debut for the first team, in the Austrian Cup, and also for Europa League. So in the end, after a few years, you were able to recognise what happened in this week. But yeah, great experience and I think it also helps to maybe guide also the team a little bit, to help a few players who maybe were not able to get in touch with European games."
Reflecting on the West Ham match, he added: "It (West Ham) was a great game, but it was during coronavirus, so the fans weren’t able to get into the stadium to make it even more special. It was a great game. I was up against him. A few years ago I played a lot of games at left-back against the likes of Bowen and Yarmolenko. It was a great opportunity to play against some top players. But as I said, it's already a long time ago. I was a lot younger and I think it was a great experience."
Spurs fan and debut goal
Moormann, a Tottenham fan, was pleased when Spurs won the Europa League under Ange Postecoglou. He said: "I am a big Tottenham fan. My brother was a big fan and then I became a fan. We went to the stadium a couple of years ago. I was pleased when Tottenham Hotspur won’t the Europa League a couple of seasons ago."
He marked his Motherwell European debut with a goal in the win over Havnar Boltfelag and helped secure a 1-1 draw away to HJK. He joked it was a trademark goal: "Yes, great. I think it's always, I don't want to say difficult, but it's different when you come to a new club, when you have your first game. Of course, you're a little bit nervous, maybe too. Helped a lot to score after 15 minutes or something like that, to get a good feeling on the pitch. Makes it easier. I think it was in March (my last goal) or something like that. Yes, it was a similar one, outside of the box. It was good luck in this game and hopefully there will come a few more this season."
Focus on HJK and Fir Park advantage
The winners will face Freiburg in the play-off, but Moormann insists all focus is on HJK. He said: "It is a great opportunity (Freiburg) but we need to focus on the game tomorrow."
Motherwell went ahead through Tawanda Maswanhise but were pegged back by Teemu Pukki’s equaliser. Moormann believes the grass pitch at Fir Park will make a difference: "When you play on astro it's maybe a little bit different. But I think the fans, the crowd who will be here, it will help us a lot. They'll give us maybe an extra push. Hopefully, they'll give us an extra push. But I think home games are always, especially international, are different. Maybe a little bit easier. We know that it was a hard game last week, so we need to be completely focused on the game."
Moormann joined from Blue and White Linz and was attracted by the playing style of Alfred Johansson. He said: "I think it was clear that the club, and also the manager, doesn't want to change very much the style they played last year. That was very important for me because I wanted to go to a club where we want to play football, where we want to have a lot of possession. The first days were very positive. He spoke a lot to the new players and we tried to get them involved as soon as possible. I think it helped a lot too."
