GROUP THERAPY WILL SUIT McINNES

DEREK McINNES believes the Europa League starts for real now as Aberdeen chase their group-stage dream against Maribor.

Pittodrie is likely to be packed for next week’s visit of the Slovenians, who will provide a much sterner challenge to the Dons than they have faced so far in the qualifying campaign.

After crashing out at this stage in the past two seasons to Real Sociedad and Kairat Almaty, the Aberdeen manager knows the task has just got a whole lot tougher.

‘In every cup tournament, there is an increase in the level of competition the further you progress,’ he said. ‘Maribor will provide that in the next round.

‘We will have to make sure we’re ready for it because they have done very well in Europe in the past. It will take a strong Aberdeen performance next Thursday.

‘The likelihood is that there will be 17,000 or 18,000 at the game, so the competition is heating up. We’ll look to get through that tie and I think we’re capable of it. We had people at the Levski Sofia v Maribor match on Thursday and we watched the first leg of their tie on the plane home from Latvia.

‘We want Europe to give us the best experience we can get and the aim is to get through this tie. It will take an improved level of performance but I think we are getting there.

‘We want to put ourselves in the position where you are only one game from the group stage.’

Dons striker Adam Rooney has already scored in Europe against Maribor and he is convinced he and his teammates can end the Slovenian side’s ‘Slayer of the Scots’ reputation.

They have defeated Celtic, Rangers and Hibs in the last six years and reached the Champions League group stage two years ago after beating the Parkhead club.

However, Rooney knows what to expect after playing against them when he was at Birmingham City in 2011.

‘Their stadium was something else — their fans were nuts,’ said Rooney.

‘They were bouncing for 90 minutes and they had three guys behind the goal who didn’t even look at the game.

‘They had big microphones and kept the fans singing. It was a brilliant atmosphere but we won 2-1. We also beat them 1-0 at Birmingham and I scored with a header.

‘So I’ve good memories and, hopefully, there’s another one to come.

‘We are now not far away from the group stage, so we’ll take confidence from the wins and the clean sheets in the last two games and try to build on that.’