Maarten Stekelenburg eyes Southampton Europa League run
Friday 7 August 2015 08:53, UK
Southampton goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg is relishing the prospect of a run in the Europa League after the club secured their place in the draw for the play-off round.
The Netherlands international kept clean sheets in both legs as Saints beat Vitesse in the third qualifying round, with goals from Graziano Pelle and Sadio Mane on Thursday night helping to secure a 5-0 aggregate win.
Ronald Koeman's side will now go into the hat alongside 43 other teams in Friday's draw, with the Saints now just one two-legged tie away from the Europa League group stage. They will not, however, be joined by West Ham, after the Hammers were knocked out by Romanian outfit Astra Giurgiu.
"I don't understand why some clubs don't want to play in the Europa League after playing a whole season to get into Europe," Stekelenburg told Southampton's website.
"It's always nice to play in Europe. The results are fantastic, so we're looking forward to the draw."
Stekelenburg was delighted to have managed clean sheets in both of his competitive Southampton games so far, but believes the side can improve on their Europa League displays ahead of their Premier League opener at Newcastle on Sunday.
"I think if you win the first game 3-0 and the second game 2-0 away, the results are very good," the goalkeeper added.
"The second half, we had to do better in the game, especially in ball possession. But defensively it was good. That is now two clean sheets to take into the Premier League, but we can still improve."
