We’ll halt Scots’ Euro misery against Maribor insists Jack

● Aberdeen have nothing to fear says captain as they bid for Europa play-offs despite history being against them

Ryan Jack is confident that Aberdeen will succeed where Celtic, Rangers and Hibs have all failed in recent seasons when their European ambitions go on the line in Maribor this week.

History does not favour the Dons who travel to Slovenia for the second leg of their Europa League third qualifyinground tie on Thursday night after a 1-1 draw at Pittodrie last week. Maribor have claimed the scalps of Hibs (2010-11), Rangers (2011-12) and Celtic (2014-15) in their last three ties against Scottish opposition.

But Aberdeen captain Jack insists the time has come to halt that sequence and finally lead his team beyond the current stage of the Europa League.

Derek Mcinnes’ men have fallen in the third qualifying round in each of the previous two seasons, losing to Real Sociedad and Kairat Almaty, but are bullish about their prospects of going all the way to the group stage this year.

Jack, who was still at school when Aberdeen last reached the group phase of the Uefa Cup nine years ago, is optimistic they will overcome Maribor to book their place in Friday’s play-off round draw.

“There has been a lot made about the fact that no Scottish team has beaten Maribor in the last few years,” said Jack.

“Obviously you look into that because you realise they must be a good side if they are beating teams of the calibre of Celtic and Rangers, but I think we showed last Thursday that we can match anyone on our game.

“We are not putting any pressure onto ourselves because of that type of thing. “We know we are good enough to get through the tie

“These are exciting times and we can take a lot of confidence from what we did last Thursday at Pittodrie into the away game and gave ourselves every opportunity.

“We are getting better with every performance, to be honest. As you get better, you get more confidence and belief and we can take it to Slovenia.

“From the way we train and the players we have in the team, it backs it up that we can score goals. Going to Slovenia, it is going to be a tough game and a hard match, but it’s one we are mentally and physically prepared for.

“It has been a while since we had a long run in Europe. Maybe the last couple of seasons, due to the draws we have had, it did make it tough for us.

“But this year we wanted to try to head into it with