GROUP STAGE SLOT UP WITH A TROPHY
TEAM NEWS TONIGHT’S BIG GAMES
BY SCOTT BURNS DEREK McINNES reckons taking Aberdeen into the Europa League group stage would be up there with winning a trophy.
The experienced boss takes his Dons team into Europe for the seventh-consecutive season tonight, when they face Faroese minnows NSI Runavik at Pittodrie.
McInnes has been delighted that Aberdeen have been European regulars but is also frustrated they have never made it to the money-making group stage or got past the third-qualifying round.
“Getting to the group stage would be like winning a trophy,” said McInnes, who guided Aberdeen to League Cup glory in 2014.
“It gets tougher to get there and more and more obstacles are put in front of teams like ourselves to do it.
“But I think once you get there the rewards financially are brilliant.
“That would be a huge benefit for the club in this current climate. There is also the respect the club could get from being in the group stages.
“There is obviously a trade-off with that if it starts to impact domestically.
“You have seen bigger clubs than us struggle to get the balance between dealing with domestic fixtures and group stages.
“But for us, getting to the groups would be a brilliant achievement and it’s what we are after as we set off.
“I have spoken to the players about that.
“We are in a competition. We know we are not going to win the competition but we can get to the group stages. For me it
ABERDEEN go into the game without the suspended Funso Ojo, while Mikey Devlin, Sam Cosgrove, Ryan Edmondson and Craig Bryson miss out through injury.
Andrew Considine and Scott McKenna are both available, while Niall McGinn will be given until the last minute.
MIDWEEK