Three years ago this month Angelo Alessio was Antonio Conte’s assistant as the Italian national team faced Germany in the quarter-finals of Euro 2016. The teams couldn’t be separated after 120 minutes but the Azzuri eventually lost 6-5 in a penalty shoot-out on a dramatic evening in Bordeaux.
On the face of it, Kilmarnock’s second leg of their Europa League first qualifying round against Welsh no-hopers Connah’s Quay Nomads at Rugby Park is at the opposite end of the footballing spectrum but Alessio, taking charge of his first match at Rugby Park since succeeding Steve Clarke as manager of Scotland’s oldest professional club, claims he will be as enthused by this encounter as he was by the prospect of taking his country into the last four of a major tournament.
“It’s still exciting for me because this is my first match in our stadium and it is a real chance to say hello to the fans and to allow me to experience the passion of the support,” said the 54-year-old.
“This will be emotional for me but I have a lot of experience in this type of game and this competition. I won the UEFA Cup as a player with Juventus in 1990 and that involved a lot of games but our focus tomorrow is very clear; it is to reach the next round and to play better.”
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Killie came from behind to win 2-1 in Rhyl last week and anything other than a home victory tonight would constitute a major upset. Even so, Alessio insisted there will be no complacency from the hosts, as they attempt to secure a meeting with Serbia’s Partizan Belgrade in the second round next week.
Veteran centre-back Alex Bruce, who was brought to the club on a short-term deal by Clarke in January, yesterday committed to another campaign in the Premiership and Alessio, who admits to wanting two more forwards to assist Scotland striker Eamonn Brophy, also hopes to land Manchester City’s Ghana winger Thomas Agyepong (who spent an injury-interrupted 2018/19 with Hibs) on a season-long loan.
“I can’t say anything about him at the moment because there are a lot of negotiations but nothing concrete,” he said. “We are just chatting but, in the next week, I think the situation will become clearer.”
Another old head, 34-year-old defender Kris Broadfoot – a UEFA Cup finalist with Rangers in 2008 – admits he never expected to return to the European theatre.
“Playing in Europe was something that I thought had probably gone for me when I left to go down to England to play in the Championship,” he said. “When I came back to Kilmarnock, playing in Europe obviously wasn’t really something I was thinking about. That’s just the honest truth.
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“It was a case of trying to just get into the top six every year. But, the way things went last season, we really kicked on. To break into the top five teams and finish third was a fantastic season for us.”
Now he’s hoping that Killie can become the first club outside Celtic and Rangers to reach the group stage of a major competition since Aberdeen in 2007/08, the same season in which Rangers ultimately lost out to Dick Advocaat’s Zenit St Petersburg. Should they exceed expectations by doing so, however, it wouldn’t represent Broadfoot’s biggest achievement.
“It would be huge, to be honest, although it wouldn’t be quite as big as Rangers reaching the final,” he said. “But we can’t look too far ahead; we need to take it game by game because that’s where we are right now.
“This is a cup final for Connah’s Quay. They’ll see it as them coming up here to Kilmarnock with nothing to lose. Whether they sit in and keep it tight or go for it a bit more, who knows?”
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