Playing on shopping centre roof and facing down fiery fans
Hibs boast at least one player who has experienced the “hostile environment” of football in Belgrade before. The fact that the man in question came away with a win from his visit to the Serbian capital can only be a good omen, right?
By his own admission, Dylan Levitt’s appearance for Manchester United Under-19s against FK Brodarac in the UEFA Youth League back in 2018 probably wasn’t the biggest game of his career. But the Welsh midfielder still got a taste of the heat and noise likely to be experienced by Hibs when they face Partizan in the Europa Conference League here tomorrow night.
“I've played in Serbia before, with Manchester United in the Youth League before,” recalled Levitt. “It was in Belgrade but it wasn't Partizan, it was a different team. Even though that was an under-19s game, it was still very hostile I remember.
“If I remember rightly, I think it was on top of a shopping centre at the stadium. AstroTurf. A massive wall around the side. That's all I remember at the time. Obviously, the noise, even in an under-19s game, it's quite special to play in.
“I think we ended up winning (it was 2-0). I think it was just a qualifying round of 16. Just one game, I think it was, at the time.
“It was good. I only remember it briefly. It was quite a few years ago now, but I remember coming on in that game and it was quite tough.
“I think we scored quite early on and kind of took the sting out of the game. Obviously, when they're getting frustrated, they try and come out and obviously you've got a lot of space to play football in. I think that's what we did early on. I was about 17 or 18 I think. I don't know now, but I want to say about 18.
Hibs expect Partizan to make it ‘nosiy and difficult’
“But all the boys in here have probably played in a lot of games that have been like that and had a lot of experience. Whether that's with Hibs, other teams or international.
“We know to expect it to be noisy, make it difficult. Obviously, there might be stuff going into the game, maybe stuff like that, you don't know. But yes, they’ll just try and make it difficult to get a result.”
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Insisting he and his team-mates will enjoy the experience at the Partizan Stadion, Levitt said: “I think for all the work we've done last year, these are the moments that we worked hard for, especially to play in Europe and big crowds and big games. For everyone's career in football, you really want to work hard to get to European competitions and play in Europe and big games.
“We know what we've got in the dressing room, and we know that going over there is going to be difficult and. We're going to need everyone to stick together out there.
“You have to be brave in these games, especially in possession. Because if you do get the in-possession bits right, you'll get chances. We've done that in Denmark against Midtjylland and again at Easter Road on Thursday. It's about being brave and really taking the game to them.
“For me personally, I just want to be on the ball as much as possible and drive the team forward. Obviously, when the time is right to keep the ball and take the sting out of the game, that's going to be massive.
“To try and frustrate them and try and settle the game down a lot, because it's going to be quite frantic at times. I think we've shown in Denmark, especially on the counter-attack as well, that when we win the ball, the transition has been really good. It's just about getting that final bit.”
Contract talks update
Levitt, who is out of contract at the end of the season, revealed that he’d yet to hold discussions with the club about extending his stay. Clearly, he’s keen to remain at Easter Road.
“Yeah, really happy,” said the midfielder. “Probably since January, I've probably really enjoyed it, throughout the last six or seven months I've been here. Especially since that run we went on last season, obviously, and playing games in Europe is massive for me."
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