Laudrup salutes five-star Swans
22nd August
The home side produced a five-star display to secure a 5-1 win over Romanian side Petrolul Ploiesti in the first leg of their play-off tie.
Michu scored either side of a Wayne Routledge double as the Swans went 3-0 up at the interval, before Wilfried Bony and Alejandro Pozuelo put the game beyond the visitors' reach.
However, Ploiesti did pull a goal back late on through Grosav's superb overhead kick, but it was too little too late.
Swansea now head to Romania for next week's second leg and Laudrup insists his side have to maintain the right attitude to secure their place in the Group Stage draw.
"To score five goals and win 5-1 is an excellent result," he said. "We kept the ball, scored three goals and had a few more chances without giving them anything.
"They have some interesting players, but my players did well, especially in the first half. They made some changes in the second half, but we still did well.
"Apart from their goal, they only had two or three other efforts on target and 5-1 is fantastic ahead of the second leg.
"But you always have to finish the job. We are very close to getting to the group stages and that would be historic for this club.
"We just have to go to Romania and get a result now. But in every game we play, we have to be competitive - even if I make changes for the second leg."
The Swans now return to domestic action at the weekend as they take on Tottenham at White Hart Lane on Sunday (4pm).
Spurs have had a busy summer in the transfer market and started their season with a win over Crystal Palace before crushing Dinamo Tbilisi 5-0 in the Europa League.
But Laudrup insists his players will head to the capital full of confidence as they go in search of their first Premier League points of the season.
"I'm not complaining about the fixtures," he said. "You have to play everyone and it will be difficult - but we are confident going into the game.
"They had a very good squad last season, and they have bought some good players this summer.
"It may be a different Spurs to the one we played last year, but it will still be tough."
Meanwhile, Ploiesti boss Cosmin Contra was far from satisfied with his side's performance at the Liberty Stadium.
"What I saw tonight was not the team I've seen since the start of the season," he said. "We made a lot of mistakes, but there is always a difference between the two teams.
"There are those players who you pay millions for and they will always make the difference.
"We probably don't have much of a chance to qualify, so we can play at our potential that I know we are capable of."
