Burnley’s manager Vincent Kompany believes the week of “adversity” they endured will stand his side in good stead when the Premier League season kicks off soon.
The Clarets – now back in the UK after having endured three challenging games in the space of just seven days on the continent – had begun their pre-season run of games with a 2-0 defeat to a KRC Genk side whose season has already begun with a Champions League qualifier.
Kompany’s side then beat Portuguese champions Benfica 2-0 after that, before wrangling a feisty 1-1 draw with Spanish side Real Betis.
Kompany reflected on their busy week for his men as he told the club’s official website: “We put ourselves in the situation where we wanted to have a little bit of adversity. I think we played against tough opponents.
“Top six in Spain [Betis], best team in Portugal and quarter finalists of the Champions League [Benfica], add to that the heat, integrating new players and traveling.
“We wanted to put ourselves in a situation where we would build up resilience. I think we got exactly that out of it.
“All things considered we have to be ready for the first game of the season and we’re still on that way.”
Burnley are now left with only 11 days to go before making their return to the Premier League with the possibly the toughest challenge looming ahead, their oncoming opener against reigning champions Manchester City.
And just prior to that, the Clarets have one last remaining friendly match left to engage on Saturday when they are up against Bundesliga side Mainz in Germany, where they’ll be intent on building further on their promising display against Betis on Friday in Huelva with both sides finishing the game with 10 men.
“The result could have gone our way but we saw some good things,” Kompany said on the game.
“Technically this game was difficult because of the state of the pitch, but that was the case for both teams.
“It was unfortunate with the sending off of both players. But you’re looking for the effort, you’re looking for a good defensive performance and on top of that, players who are still willing to attack and I think it was there.”