Kairat Almaty manager Vladimir Weiss sent a warning to Aberdeen they are ready to step up a gear to set up a meeting against the Dons in the Europa League third qualifying round.
The Kazakh club defeated Armenia side Alashkert 3-0 in Thursday’s first leg in Almaty with the winners set to face Aberdeen or Croats side HNK Rijeka, who will have to overturn a similar 3-0 deficit at Pittodrie next week.
Alashkert have already faced Scottish opposition once this season, knocking St Johnstone out of the first qualifying round.
But Weiss, whose son Vladimir spent a season on loan with Rangers, is confident his side can complete the job in Armenia on Thursday.
Weiss, who managed Slovakia to the knock-out stages at the 2010 World Cup, said: “That was a good result, but nothing has been decided.
“We will have to be careful in the return leg. We could have won the match 5-0 or 6-0, but it could easily have been 3-2. Our goalkeeper Vladimir Plotnikov came to our rescue with some great saves.
“We were guilty of passing up a number of chances because of poor decision-making in the penalty area.
“I had some harsh words for the players at half time because after we went 1-0 up we stopped attacking.
“I warned the players that in cup football we have to take our chances because if we don’t we will be out of the competition.
“Although we have a 3-0 advantage, we will prepare carefully for the second leg.
“I was in charge of the Slovakia national team when we were beaten 3-1 by Armenia so I know the stadium and I know what to expect.”
Kairat boast a plethora of internationals in their squad, including recent acquisition Anatoliy Tymoshchuk, who won the 2013 Champions League at Bayern Munich.
The 36-year-old, who joined the club from Zenit St Petersburg earlier this month, has been capped 140 times by Ukraine.
Weiss does not intend to field a weakened side against Alashkert, despite their healthy advantage.
He said: “I will not be playing my reserve players.
“That option is available and I know we are competing on three fronts with the league, the cup and European football.
“But we will choose a team we think gives us the best chance of winning the tie.”