It’s tough on Inverness Caley Thistle, but after last week’s results they will go into their first-ever European tie charged with helping regain Scottish pride.
I say that because St Johnstone’s European exit was a real disappointment.
For one of our teams to go out to an Armenian club is poor.
Their national team is ranked 89th in the world.
That’s 60 places below Scotland. So low they will be in pot 5 for the World Cup 2018 draw, a group that contains the likes of Cyprus, Moldova and Belarus.
What made it worse was that for much of the return leg, in Perth, opponents Alashkert only had 10 men on the park.
That Saints actually managed to win on the night their first European victory at McDiarmid Park since 1999 is irrelevant.
In conceding a goal at home a very bad one from a defensive point of view they gave themselves too much to do and went out on away goals.
The rule can be tough when you are on the wrong end of it but it is very much part of the European game.
Aberdeen used it in their favour to see off their opponents Shkendija, their goal in the 1-1 draw in Macedonia enough to make the 0-0 draw at Pittodrie a winning score.
As a result they will now share some of the responsibility with ICT for lifting the country’s spirits.
It won’t be easy. For either of them.
As I said in this column last week, Caley Thistle’s tie with FC Astra looks a treacherous one, with Romanian football always pretty strong.
And the same equally applies to the Dons next opponents, Rijeka of Croatia.
They are, I believe, one of their country’s top teams and showed their strength by holding last season’s Europa League winners Seville to a 2-2 draw in last season’s competition.
Aberdeen, though, are comfortably Scotland’s second best team just now and I suspect they probably are more likely to win through.
Celtic, are the third team who will bear the burden of restoring pride and the co-efficient when they take on the Icelanders FC Stjarnan in the first of their Champions League qualifiers.
Their manager Runar Pall Sigmundsson was among the crowd who watched Dukla Prague hit five past the Hoops in their St Mirren Park friendly last Saturday.
It wasn’t surprising to hear him say afterwards he saw some possibilities for his team but, personally, I think it might just have been clever management on Celtic’s part!
Ronny Deila knows it is what his team do in this week’s Celtic Park tie and the return in Iceland a week later that matter.
He has pledged to do what it takes fix his defence before then and I take him at his word.
The Norwegian is in no doubt how important it is he leads his team into the group stages of the competition this year.
He knows that is how he will be judged by the Hoops fans and the club’s directors.
The supporters crave the big nights when the likes of Barcelona, Milan and Manchester United come to town, while the Board know the £15-million cash injection it would bring would make a huge difference.
And Deila would benefit, too, for it would guarantee him the extra revenue he craves to add some real quality to his squad.
Yes, I know, Nadir Ciftci has been recruited from Dundee United for a seven-figure fee. I am not a betting man but, if I was, I would have piled money on that one happening
the second we heard he had rejected the Wigan move.
For me, though, the striker is more about potential because he needs to show a lot more consistency.
It shouldn’t matter against the Icelanders as I’m sure Celtic will give themselves breathing space by putting themselves in a position to progress, with the boost to Scotland’s pride a handy bonus.
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