SHINNIE HAPPY PEOPLE
ABERDEEN Nothing Rangers boss Caixinha says will stop us vows Graeme... he’s just trying to upset Dons
ABERDEEN skipper Graeme Shinnie insists the Reds have absolutely nothing to prove to Rangers boss Pedro Caixinha this season.
Back in May, the Light Blues head coach warned the Dons that their period of success was coming to an end after Derek McInnes led them to three consecutive runners-up slots in the top flight.
Caixinha boldly predicted the Reds’ cycle would end at the expense of Rangers.
However, Shinnie is adamant Aberdeen don’t need the words of Caixinha to fire them up in the new campaign as they bid to retain their tag as the second best team in Scotland.
Shinnie said: “I don’t think we need to prove anything to anybody.
“We want to do well for ourselves, the supporters and the club.
“He (Caixinha) is just trying to upset the momentum and morale that we have in the team.
“I don’t think that gives us any extra motivation than we already have.
“We want to do as well as we can and want to be up there challenging as close as we can to Celtic. They blew us away last season with their form and the season they had but we just want to do the best we can.
“There were a lot of people at the start of last season saying Rangers were back and that they would finish second or even first.
“We don’t need that to motivate us as we are already motivated to do the best we can.
“The boys know what is needed to do the business.
“We just need to focus on ourselves if we are to achieve our goals this season.”
Shinnie also revealed he is desperate to lead the Dons into the Europa League group stage and bring the big guns of Europe back to Pittodrie.
It’s a decade since Jimmy Calderwood’s side reached the lucrative group stage of the old UEFA Cup.
Shinnie remembers the special European nights in the Granite City when the Reds downed Copenhagen 4-0 and drew 2-2 with Bayern Munich in the knockout phase.
The Dons take on Cypriots Apollon Limassol on Thursday, holding a 2-1 advantage from the first leg at Pittodrie.
The 25 year-old, who bagged the winner in last week’s encounter, is determined to steer Aberdeen one step closer to their Europa League dream.
A place in the play-off round is the prize on offer for the winners of the tie.
And Shinnie said: “We are desperate to do well in the Europa League and all our focus has been on that competition.
“It is an arena that we want to do well in.
“We want to tick that box of having reached the Europa group stage.
“Last season against Maribor we were the better team and still went out.
“The season before we found the going tough against Kairat Almaty from Kazakhstan.
“I thought we had enough to get through on both of those occasions but we didn’t. “We can use the Maribor and Kairat Almaty matches as a positive thing and try to make sure we don’t feel like that again. “We don’t want to be coming home on the plane from Cyprus thinking ‘What if we had done this or that?’ “The Aberdeen supporters still talk about the 4-0 win against Copenhagen and the 2-2 draw with Bayern Munich at Pittodrie all those years ago. “That is exactly what we want as a squad and as a club now. “We are desperate to qualify for the Europa League group stage. It would secure huge games for the city but it is still a long way off yet as we have a tough tie against Apollon Limassol on Thursday first.
“And they showed at Pittodrie they were a good team.
“The Aberdeen supporters would love for us to get into the Europa League groups.
“It would be great to welcome some big European names back to Pittodrie.”
Shinnie is also aware that competing in the group stage would do him and team-mate Kenny McLean’s chances of forcing their way into Scotland boss Gordon Strachan’s plans no harm at all.
Shinnie said: “I have always said that to get into the Scotland squad you need to be playing well and winning games like this.
“That is important for the likes of me and Kenny and it would certainly benefit our international chances to reach the groups.
“On a personal note it would just be great to be running out playing in these kind of games.”