ABERDEEN manager Derek McInnes believes his club can do Scottish football proud this afternoon in an Asian outpost when they face ambitious Kazakhstan side Kairat Almaty.
The Pittodrie side face a difficult task when they face Kairat in hot and humid Almaty – just 200 miles from the Chinese border – in a Europa League third qualifying round first leg.
But the Premiership runners-up certainly can't be accused of skimping on costs after forking out over £200,000 to fly in a jet regularly used by the likes of Manchester City, England and even the Saudi Arabian royal family to ensure the players could get some proper rest ahead of today's game.
They face a highly ambitious Kazakh side, who boast former Bayern Munich Champions League-winning defensive midfielder Anatoliy Tymoshchuk in their ranks. But McInnes' men already defeated tough opposition in the form of Croats Rijeka and if Aberdeen fail, it won't be through lack of preparation.
McInnes said: "There are no concerns about lack of sleep or anything. We landed at the same local time we usually do for European games.
"It was certainly a benefit having more room on the plane. Some players find it difficult to sleep on a plane regardless, but we have given ourselves every chance. The flight was not a problem at all. The majority of them slept and it was important to keep them on our time zones.
"Preparations are one thing but things are always thrown up in the games. We have to be ready regardless of the time difference or the travelling. The players are excited and up for the challenge, as we all are."
He believes his side are flying the flag for Scottish football. He added: "First and foremost we want to do well for our club but we’re well aware of the kickback from that. If clubs do well and we can play a part in the co-efficient getting better.
"Our first responsibility is to our club, our supporters and ourselves. But we know by doing well it will help us in future and hopefully other Scottish teams as well."
Ash Taylor, Aberdeen's commanding defender, praised the club for ensuring they arrived refreshed in the ninth largest country in the world. He said: "It was a long journey to get here, but the club have done brilliantly. I don't think it will take too much out of us because we have prepared right. We're trying to stay on our time and we all managed to get a good sleep on the plane because the club put on a good jet for us."
Kairat are managed by Vladimir Weiss who, 10 years ago this week, masterminded one of Celtic's darkest days when Gordon Strachan began his Parkhead management career with a 5-0 hammering at Artmedia Bratislava.
But Weiss – who will have to do without injured top-scorer Gerard Gohou and strike partner Sito Riera – insisted that game had no relevance.
He said: "That was a great night for Artmedia, but this is a different game. It’s impossible to compare football from 10 years ago to now. A lot has changed in the game but we are well aware of Scottish football tactics. We know what to expect from Aberdeen. It won’t be the same as when Celtic came to Bratislava."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel