TIM Sparv says it is a surreal feeling to be back at St Mary's for tomorrow night's Europa League match.

The Midtjylland midfielder came through the academy system at Saints and his returned to face his former club in this week's Europa League play-off tie.

“It feels great, it’s a little bit surreal," said the 28-year-old, who joined Saints at the age of 16, before moving on in 2007.

 

"I actually met some friends at the hotel, talking about my time here, eight or nine years ago.

"I definitely have fond memories of my time here. The academy set up was incredible, everyone really ambitious, new thinking, modern approach to the game, so it was a great education that I got during my youth years."

Sparv added: "It's great to see that they’re back in the Premier League where they belong.

"From an outside perspective I feel it’s a real model club from the way they conduct themselves, the youth players that they bring through.

"The football philosophy they have under Ronald Koeman is also very attractive. A nice stadium, a good set of fans, it really is a great club."

The Danish champions were knocked out of the Champions League qualifiers this summer, and Sparv admits it will be hard to now reach the Europa League group stages.

“It’s a two-legged tie," he said. "We are hopeful, we’re confident, we’ve had a great start to the domestic season.

"We’ve overcome our disappointment against APOEL Nicosia and I feel we have a decent chance against Southampton.

"The gap between the leagues are big, Southampton are the clear favourites, but I think we’ve seen plenty of underdogs overcome bigger opposition before, so why not us?"

On what Saints can expect from Midtjylland, Sparv said: “We have a physical presence in our team, we’ve often been dangerous in set pieces, we have some big lads and we don’t shy away from a tackle, definitely not, but we can also play football.

"I think our new coach has a very good idea of how we want to build up and we’re trying to move maybe a little bit from all the physical perspective to more of a football side and his ideas are really nice to see. I think we’re coming along great in that aspect."

Manager Jess Thorup believes his side need to score at St Mary's if they are to stand a chance of overcoming Saints.

Thorup said: "We know the chances for us going forward to the group stage will be very difficult, although we had a good start to the season, so we come with a lot of confidence. We think we have a chance.

"Maybe they don’t know that much about us, I think maybe we know a bit more about them, because in Denmark the Premier League is a big league, everybody follows that league, so hopefully that will give us a good result and hopefully we can score a goal.

"I think that will be necessary for us to achieve our goals of going to the group stage."