Dons boss unfazed by NK Maribor clash
Aberdeen manager Derek McInnes believes his players should feel confident
Aberdeen manager Derek McInnes believes his players should feel confident ahead of their Europa League encounter against a Maribor team who have proven a thorn in Scottish football's side.
Maribor have knocked Celtic, Rangers and Hibernian out of Europe in the past six seasons and, although they lost to Celtic's latest opponents Astana in their only tie last season, they have a strong recent history in European competition.
The Slovenians reached the Champions League group stages the previous season - thanks to victory over Celtic - and emerged from a group featuring Wigan to reach the last 32 of the Europa League in 2013-14.
The Dons have beaten Fola Esch of Luxembourg and Ventspils of Latvia to reach this stage but McInnes is equally comfortable being the underdogs.
"They are favourites,'' he said ahead of Thursday's first leg at Pittodrie.
"Regardless of who we get at this stage, we are going to be underdogs, and we are underdogs. But we were underdogs against Groningen and Rijeka. We are confident in our own abilities to get the right result.
"Whether they are confident drawing us, you would need to ask them. I think they will take confidence in their recent history more than anything and not just against Scottish teams.
"Scottish football has taken a wee bit of a kicking with some of the results but we want to represent ourselves first and foremost, get the reputation of our club at the forefront of people's minds and in doing so help Scottish football at the same time.
"We were up against a seeded team against the Latvians and we are underdogs, but we can still win the game. Our boys are confident. We have learned over the last few seasons to deal with European football.
"We're not daunted by it. This is why we are involved in it.''
Meanwhile, McInnes hopes to have a look at trialist Khalid Aucho in match action after the Uganda midfielder showed up well in training.
"He has done absolutely fine,'' McInnes said.
"It's never easy for a boy coming from that side of the world. It's totally different to what he's used to, temperature, style of play, but he has shown a real eagerness.
"He's a good kid, he has worked hard. We will try and get a closed-door game for him so we can have a proper assessment of him.''