Derek McInnes isn’t too fussed about beating Maribor in their Europa League qualifying tie at Pittodrie tomorrow; as long as his Aberdeen side don’t lose.
European football, he insisted, has changed with the need to record a home win – once a requirement – now of less importance.
Neither does he feel additional pressure because his Dons are the last team standing in the competition, though there is a recognition that the Slovenians will be a tough nut to crack in the first leg of their third qualifying round in the Granite City.
Aberdeen have beaten Fola Esch of Luxembourg – their second leg performance gave rise to severe criticism - and Ventspils of Latvia en route to tomorrow’s tie, but they accept Maribor is a step-up in class, but McInnes isn’t concerned about representing Scotland following the exits of Hearts and Hibs in the Europa League.
“We are representing ourselves first and foremost ,” he said, “but there’s maybe a bit of extra motivation from some of the things written. We feel that it seems to cover Scottish football results overall.
“We are quite pleased with our work and to improve on it we need to beat a team like Maribor to get the recognition.
“We were favourites to win the last two games and there’s a scrutiny and pressure involved in that.
“We handled that well and now go into this round as underdogs.
“Although Maribor are favourites we believe we can get close to them, just like the Latvians and Fola Esch got close to us.
“A lot was made about Fola Esch being part-time, but they train five nights a week and a lot of their players are on more money than my players. “That’s the reality of it if you look really close, these countries have improved. It’s closer than what a lot of people think.”
McInnes was keen to underline that last point, insisting that while
the Ladbrokes Premiership is stronger than leagues in Luxembourg and
Malta, for example, there are teams within them which can compete with the best Scotland has to offer.
“We can only concentrate on Aberdeen,” he said, “and what we want to do now is give a shot in the arm to Scottish football by hopefully doing well ourselves. We worked hard all last season to get this chance and we just want to get into a position where we have a shot at the group stages.
“I don’t feel extra pressure, I feel pressure as the manager of Aberdeen. I have pressure to get results all the time.
“Our supporters recognise the standard of opposition and that we’re underdogs.
“But they will still expect us to win the game and there’s nothing wrong with that.
“I believe we are capable of beating a team of their standing.”
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