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Feb 20, 2010   |  2:16PM AET

Langerak: ACL won’t change approach

Langerak: ACL won’t change approach

Goalkeeper Mitch Langerak does not believe Melbourne will change its style of play in the upcoming Asian Champions League campaign, saying the attacking approach which Victory has taken to the Hyundai A-League will serve them well in Asia.

Goalkeeper Mitch Langerak does not believe Melbourne will change its style of play in the upcoming Asian Champions League campaign, saying the attacking approach which Victory has taken to the Hyundai A-League will serve them well in Asia.

Melbourne plays its first ACL match against Beijing Guoan in China on Tuesday, the first of six group matches. Langerak said that while playing against Asian club opposition will be very different from the Hyundai A-League, the team will continue to attack.

“We play the same sort of football week in, week out. We try to attack and try to go at teams. Obviously the Chinese will have there way of playing but if we stick to our gameplan, the rest will look after itself,” he said.

One of the bigger challenges Melbourne will face will be adapting to cooler conditions in the northern hemisphere, with temperatures in Beijing expected to be close to freezing.

“It will be tough to go over there in the cold conditions, but that’s the excitement of playing in the Champions League. They’ve got to come here when it’s going to be hot. It tougher for them coming here when it’s hot, as opposed to is going there when it’s cold,” Langerak said.

“I will be wearing my big snowy jacket when we get off the plane definitely. Once we are on the pitch, the skins should do the job. Once we’ve warmed up, we should be right.”

Langerak said that the playing group was looking forward to a change in scenery after what has been an intense few weeks in the Hyundai A-League.

“It’s good to shift our focus to the Champions League, it will be important for us to go over there and hopefully we can get a result. It will be difficult for us to go over there, but it’s a good problem to have to be involved in two comps with such a tight schedule,” he said.

And Langerak is looking forward to reacquainting himself with Joel Griffiths, the former Newcastle player who won the Johnny Warren Medal in 2008.

“He showed what he can do in the A-League when he was here. It will be exciting for us to play against him in the Champions League. From all reports he is doing very well over there. It will be a definite challenge for us, but we are more than capable of doing a job over there,” he said.