ABERDEEN SKIPPER SHINNIE IN NO MOOD FOR ANOTHER EUROPEAN SOB STORY
Shinnie in no mood for another European sob story after pain of Maribor and Kairat
ABERDEEN captain Graeme Shinnie has urged his team-mates to ensure they do not return from Cyprus harbouring fresh Europa League heartache after facing Apollon Limassol.
The Dons lead 2-1 from the first leg at Pittodrie, but they approach Thursday’s return knowing they have fallen at the third qualifying round for each of the last three seasons.
During that time, Derek McInnes’ side have been eliminated by Spaniards Real Sociedad, Kairat Almaty of Kazakhstan and Maribor of Slovenia.
If Sociedad were an undoubted class above the Dons, the Granite City side felt aggrieved by their other two exits.
‘Last year against Maribor, we were the better team home and away, but we went out at the third round,’ said Shinnie.
‘It was the same the previous year when I thought we had enough to get through in Kazakhstan, but, again, we didn’t make it.
‘We can’t have that again on Thursday. We can’t be coming home on the plane with what-ifs. We need to go out there to Cyprus, get the job done and come home happy this time.
‘But we can use our past European experiences to our advantage. A couple of years ago, we won 3-0 away in Croatia against Rijeka and it was really hot, like it will be on Thursday.
‘I do feel we will make chances out in Cyprus, but if we get a boring 0-0 draw and go through to the play-off round then we would take that.’
Shinnie was a 16-year-old Dons fan the last time Aberdeen reached the group stage of the Europa League.
In 2007-08, under Jimmy Calderwood, Copenhagen were thrashed 4-0 at Pittodrie and Bayern Munich were held in a thrilling 2-2 home draw in the last 32.
During that run, Dons players got to test themselves against stars such as Sergio Aguero away to Atletico Madrid and Luca Toni and Bastian Schweinstiger at the Allianz Arena.
For Aberdonian Shinnie, to be involved in a similar adventure would be a dream come true.
‘It would be unreal, but it’s a long way away yet,’ he counselled. ‘If we get through on Thursday against Apollon, we would still face another tough two matches.
‘But we would love to get there to the group stage. Those games in the past, against Copenhagen and Bayern Munich, are what we want to be involved in.
‘Pittodrie was a sell-out last
7 Aberdeen have won seven of their 10 Europa League qualifiers in the past four seasons. The Dons have only lost out to Real Sociedad, Kairat Almaty and Maribor since 2014
week against Apollon and that shows you what it means to the fans. They would love to welcome big-name teams to Pittodrie in the group stage.
‘It’s very difficult to reach the group stage. Back in 2007-08, the team only had to get through two games to do it.
‘We have to play more games to get there. But while it is very tough, we know we can get through this round.’
Shinnie is also hoping a good run in Europe would see the Scottish trio of himself, Kenny McLean and Mark Reynolds all catch Gordon Strachan’s eye.
‘Definitely,’ he agreed, when asked about his desire to wear the dark blue. ‘I’ve always said, to get into the Scotland squad, you have to be playing games and playing well.
‘So playing in games in Europe is important. It would definitely benefit our chances, but it would also be great just to play in these kind of big games.’
After Cyprus, Aberdeen kick off their Premiership season against Hamilton at Pittodrie on Sunday.
Rangers boss Pedro Caixinha mischievously suggested towards the end of last season that Aberdeen were nearing the end of a cycle. But Shinnie declined to bite back at the provocative Portuguese boss.
‘It (Caixinha’s comments) doesn’t give us any more motivation than we already had,’ he insisted.
‘He’s probably trying to upset the momentum that we have and the morale in the team.
‘But we just want to do as well as we can and we want to be challenging as close as we can to Celtic. They blew us away last season with their form. That was difficult, but we want to get as close to them as we can.
‘Would it be nice to prove Pedro Caixinha wrong? We proved people wrong last season.
‘There were a lot of people saying Rangers were back and they would finish second or first. But we don’t need that to motivate us. We know what’s in our squad and we will look to start the season well.
‘I don’t feel we have anything to prove to anyone.’