Aberdeen will take on Macedonian side Shkendija in the First Qualifying Round of the Europa League. The Dons are currently at St Andrews for their pre-season training camp. The team gathered to watch the draw at lunchtime before the Manager plus Graeme Shinnie and Paul Quinn spoke to the media. Minutes after the draw Derek McInnes gave his reaction.
“We were eagerly anticipating the draw. I think we maybe got the toughest draw that we could have got from the group of teams we were paired with, without being disrespectful to the other teams.
“We had some tough draws last year and we have been given another one this season.
“Naturally we did not know too much about KF Shkëndija but even since the draw we have managed to get quite a bit of information about them. They are a decent team. They finished the season very strongly. They have qualified for Europe over the past couple of seasons.
“We have watched some clips of them already. My first impressions of them are that they are team who want to play. They have got good technical players. The majority of their team is made up of Macedonians. They have also got a couple of Brazilians in there and a few other nationalities.
“We will get to learn a lot more about them over the next couple of days. We know that it will be a bit of a journey and it will be pretty hot down there. The reason you are in Europe is to play against different opposition, different styles and experience different cultures. The players are looking forward to the game. As it stands the first leg is away from home and that is fine and we are adjusting our schedule.
“The important thing between now and then is making sure we are ready and also we know everything we need to know about them. We have a tough match and we need to make sure we are ready. They have already played a couple of pre-season friendlies so they are ahead of us. We did play a closed doors game yesterday.
“We will try and get over to watch them before we play them. It is not always easy but someone from the club will hopefully go over and watch them first hand. We have got all their games from last season on video and they played right up until the end of May so there is plenty for us to watch and to get caught up on.
“It will be a tough match. Like everything we have got confidence in ourselves. We will be ready physically and tactically once we get to know them. We have the ability and the confidence to hopefully get through the tie. I am reluctant to look further ahead than this game at the moment.”
RedTV | Derek's press conference in full | please click here RedTV | Graeme Shinnie | please click here RedTV | Paul Quinn press conference | please click here
RedTV | Derek's press conference in full | please click here RedTV | Graeme Shinnie | please click here RedTV | Paul Quinn press conference | please click here
