Schwarzer: Euro progress important to Fulham players

Fulham's players are serious about defeating CSKA Sofia in tonight's Europa League clash.

The significance of the match is certainly not lost on Fulham goalkeeper, Mark Schwarzer.

“It’s an important game for the simple fact that we need points – we need to make sure that we win our final two games,” he told fulhamfc.com. “If we win those we’re through to the knockout stage. That’s something high up on our agenda. We desperately need to win the game against Sofia and if we do that we’ll see where we are after the match.

“What we can’t do is take this game lightly. We need to go into the game with the same attitude as a Premier League game. We won’t be looking at the score in the Roma v Basel match, for us the priority is to win the game on Thursday night, there’s nothing we can do about the other game.

“As players we want to continue in the competition. It goes without saying that the Premier League takes priority, but we’ve also been able to use the Europa League to help us maintain our momentum. I don’t think it’s hindered us in any way thus far in the season.

“When you have a larger squad of players, which we have this season, the additional games have enabled a lot of the players to get an opportunity in the First Team. From the point of view of gaining experience or helping new players settle in, it’s a great opportunity. We’ve benefited from it immensely."