Stephen Bradley says the underdog tag won’t bother Shamrock Rovers when they take on group stage regulars Ludogorets Razgrad on Tuesday night.
The Hoops know a win in this tie would guarantee group stage football this year in the Europa Conference League at the very least, while keeping alive their Champions League and Europa League prospects.
But it won’t be easy against a side that has won the last 11 Bulgarian titles and that has faced both Milan sides in the last-32 of the Europa League in recent years.
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“We know they’re a very, very good team. You only have to watch 10 minutes of them and you can see that,” said Bradley.
“You can obviously see their pedigree, and what they’ve done the last few years tells you that.
“So, you know you’re up against a really, really good team, at a high level, so we’ve got to make sure that we’re at our very best on Tuesday.”
As for Ludogorets being favourites going into the tie, he added: “Yes, we’ve been here before.
“We were here against Slovan, we were here against Milan and would have been against Limassol as well.
“So it wouldn’t be the first time we’ve gone into a European game and not been favourites.
“We know it’s tough opposition and a few levels up but we’ll be ready for it.”
Rovers’ players arrived in the northeast of Bulgaria on Sunday afternoon via a number of different routes.
The club couldn’t access a charter so flew on scheduled flights, with some going direct to Sofia and then travelling 335km by road to Razgrad.
Others went via Luton and Gatwick to Burgas, which is just two-and-a-half hours away from their Champions League basecamp.
“It was okay,” Bradley said of the travel arrangements. “We had to split the group – some went direct, and some went different routes but overall, it’s fine.
“This is where we wanted to be, this is what we worked for so if you have to do a day’s travelling, you take that no problem.”
The Rovers boss will have a full squad tomorrow night, despite a sometimes bruising second leg last week against Maltese side Hibernians.
“We had a few knocks from that game, a few kicks, which was to be expected considering the challenges that went in,” he said.
“But overall nothing serious and everyone is okay. Everyone who was available for that game is available for tomorrow and Neil Farrugia is back as well.”
Jack Byrne is in contention to start after he came off the bench against Hibs.
“I thought Jack did well,” Bradley added. “He looked really sharp the night before in training. It was good to get 20 odd minutes into him and he did well when he was on the pitch.
“So it’s about building Jack back in now, without being silly.
“I wanted to bring Graham (Burke) on, but he’d got booked (while warming up), so I didn’t want to bring him on and take that risk.
“Hopefully, we can do the same with Graham in terms of building his minutes over the next few weeks.”
As for the conditions in Bulgaria, he said: “It’s obviously hot during the day but by the time we play, that intensity should be gone out of it by then.
“The pitch and the stadium is very similar to Tallaght Stadium in how it’s set up and capacity wise. The pitch looks good. Everything looks okay.”
Shamrock Rovers will face Dinamo Zagreb (Croatia)/Shkupi (Macedonia) in the Champions League third round if they beat Ludogorets Razgrad.
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