Aberdeen manager Derek McInnes believes the Dons can give Scottish football a much-needed lift by dumping Maribor out of the Europa League.
McInnes’ men are the only Scottish representatives left standing in the Europa League after Hearts and Hibernian were defeated by Maltese side Birkirkara and Denmark’s Brondby respectively.
Celtic, meanwhile, made hard work of overcoming Gibraltar minnows Lincoln Red Imps in their opening Champions League qualifier, eventually winning 3-1 on aggregate after a shock 1-0 away defeat which did little to bolster the reputation of Scottish football.
Aberdeen earned their place in the Europa League’s third qualifying round with wins against Luxembourgish side Fola Esch and Latvia’s Ventspils but Maribor are expected to be a far tougher proposition.
Since 2010, the Slovenians have knocked Hibernian, Rangers and Celtic out of European competition and will start as favourites to progress against the Dons.
McInnes said: “I don’t feel we are under extra pressure but there is always a pressure on an Aberdeen manager to get results.
“Our supporters recognise we are underdogs and the level of opposition but there will also be a demand to win the game. There is nothing wrong with that because I believe we are capable of beating a team of Maribor’s standing.
“We are representing ourselves first and foremost but there is maybe a bit of extra motivation with some of the things written that seems to cover the results of Scottish clubs in Europe over the last while.
“We are quite pleased with our work in Europe but we want to improve on it. To do that we need to beat a team like Maribor to get that recognition and hopefully we can do that.
“We were favourites to win the last two ties and I do feel there is a scrutiny on teams in those earlier rounds but we handled that pressure.
“We rightly think Scottish teams should be doing better in Europe and I believe we will do better in time.
“We can only concentrate on Aberdeen but we want to give Scottish football a shot in the arm by hopefully doing well.”
McInnes confirmed there would be no players joining or leaving the squad prior to tomorrow’s match but said he has been impressed by trialist Khalid Aucho.
He said: “He has fitted in well and he is a likeable boy. He has trained well and we will try to get a closed doors game arranged for him in the next five or six days.
“Unfortunately, with how long it took to get the work permit sorted we can’t get him involved in another pre-season game as our pre-season games are done now.
“That was the initial plan but we will judge him from what we see in training and a closed-doors game next week and make a call on him.”
Aberdeen’s only absentee for tomorrow’s match at Pittodrie is defender Callum Morris, who is still recovering from an Achilles injury.
