Lee Johnson hit out at FC Europa bad boy Nicholas Pazo and insists he was lucky he never seriously injured Elie Youan with a “naughty” tackle in a fiery encounter in Marbella.
Hibs ran out comfortable 2-0 winners thanks to goals from Adam Le Fondre - his first for the club - and Josh Campbell. But in a game which simmered with bad feeling from start to finish it was Pazo’s challenge on Youan, who he caught just below the knee, which was the talking point afterwards. It sparked a mini melee as players from both sides got involved.
And Johnson said: “I said to the boys before the game they’d get that because it’s a foreign country, a foreign ref. We had a bit of intel from Portsmouth, who played them last week, about what they were like. They’re aggressive but also very quick to roll over and scream, which doesn’t add up to us Brits.
“Again, this could happen to us in Europe. It’s a red card, I think everyone knew that to be honest, they should have taken him off. I’m just pleased we didn’t end up reacting and had anybody getting injured through ill-discipline. It was a bad one, it was naughty.
“You get that in pre-season, everyone wants to show up. They’re a side who have lads who’d want to move to a club like ours, so they were massively up for it. In that sense it was a good game because they were up for it, it was aggressive and intense.”
Europa will take their place in the Conference League first qualifying round later this week. But there was clear distance between the sides in terms of quality. The 100 Hibs fans who braved the scorching temperatures were treated to a first glimpse of Dylan Levitt in action for their club after his £300,000 move from Dundee United.
A strong starting XI also featured fellow new boys Adam Le Fondre and Jordan Obita as well as Rocky Bushiri who was back from a broken leg while Martin Boyle was rested. And Johnson said: “Dylan is a little behind the 8-ball in terms of his pre-season but you can see the quality he has got. He plays the right ball at the right time and he’s got that puppeteering quality to orchestrate a game.
“It was hot, wasn’t it?! It was a 45-60 minute stint for the boys that probably counted double in the heat and humidity. But that’s pre-season. That could happen to us in the Conference League, we don’t know what conditions we are going to play in. And we need to adapt to different situations. We looked at FC Europa’s ranking, if you like, and it could be a similar level to the guys we’re playing. So it was a good experience for us. The pitch was good and overall it was very solid.”
Le Fondre’s intelligent movement up front and fellow new boy Jordan Obita’s pace in his advanced role on the left caused the Gibraltar side problems but it was a couple of flashes of Levitt’s genius in the holding midfield role that excited the punters. A one-sided first half saw Hibs lead 2-0 at the break. Le Fondre opened his account when he smashed home from just outside the box after a corner had only been half cleared.
Joe Newell went off with a hamstring problem after 20 minutes and was replaced by Campbell who doubled the lead shortly after when Elie Youan raced down the right flank and squared for the midfielder to knock home from six yards. Things got heated in the Marbella sunshine as tackles began to fly and Lewis Miller was booked for a late challenge. Bushiri was also targeted by striker Cristian Onhuiela before Pazo’s wild tackle on Youan.
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