Roberto Lopes insists Shamrock Rovers will be no ‘flash in the pan’ in Europe’s group stages.
With a third league title in-a-row secured, the Hoops are in Sweden for their final Europa Conference League game.
Qualification for the knockouts has long since gone and, with a goal difference of minus eight, they look certain to finish bottom even if they win tomorrow.
Stephen Bradley made no apologies for prioritising the league in the middle of this European run - and it paid dividends.
With the title in the bag, they played with freedom against Gent last week and were unlucky not to win before being pegged back in a 1-1 draw.
Tomorrow’s opponents Djurgardens belied their fourth-seed status in Group F by winning every game since their 0-0 draw in Tallaght on the opening night.
They are the surprise package but were not as fortunate in the Swedish league, having finished second. With a game to go, they cannot catch leaders Hacken.
Rovers are still in party mode but determined to go toe-to-toe with Djurgardens considering there is €500,000 on the table for a win and €166.000 for a draw.
And Rovers - with two points on the board - also want to beat Dundalk’s record of four group stage points in their 2016 Europa League campaign under Stephen Kenny.
“It's still on,” Lopes told Mirror Sport. “We were close to getting three against Gent but it was still one more towards our goal.
“It's going to be difficult but we’re really motivated to get three points in Sweden. We want to chase records and try to be the best.”
Injury concerns over Dylan Watts, Chris McCann and Aaron Greene won’t help, while Sean Kavanagh and Justin Ferizaj are suspended.
Lopes said: “We’ve always tried to win games in Europe but sometimes you have one eye on the league as that’s your bread and butter. You have to prioritise it.
“But we’re confirmed as champions and we’d love to make it a great end to the season by making this last game in Europe really special.
“I’ll be really tough because they've been flying since they played us.
“But it's our last group game and playing in these big European games is what we’ve wanted for so long.
“We’re here to have a right crack at it. We want to take the game to them because it would be a great scalp to get.”
Winning the league means that Rovers can attack Europe once again next season through the more favourable champions path.
Bradley feels it will take repeated group stage campaigns for a club like Rovers to really make their mark as they look to learn and build year on year.
And it’s a theory that Lopes subscribes to.
He said: “It's absolutely right. We don't want to be a flash in the pan and try to make the group stages but then be absent for two or three years.
“We want to make it a recurring thing and the best way to do that is by winning your league and giving yourself the best opportunity of progressing through that route.
“Hopefully we can make that the normal thing where ourselves or Irish clubs are competing in the group stages year in, year out.
“That’s how you grow the league and grow the club. We want to defend our title next year and get back to the group stages and try to make a bigger impact.”
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