Shamrock Rovers boss Stephen Bradley insists he has no interest in glamour ties from today’s group stage draw.
The Hoops could land West Ham or Villareal but Bradley would prefer a favourable outcome from the 1.30pm draw in Istanbul.
He believes Rovers should be targeting the knockout stages and said: “Let's keep pushing and see where it takes us.
“The talk (with the players) in January wasn't ‘let's get to the groups and have a party’. We're in the groups to get out of it.”
Shamrock Rovers secretary Noel Byrne is in Turkey to represent the club at the draw as fans await confirmation of their six Europa Conference league fixtures.
The Pot 1 teams that Rovers can face are: Villarreal (ESP), Basel (SUI), Slavia Praha (CZE), AZ Alkmaar (NED), Gent (BEL), Istanbul Başakşehir (TUR), Partizan (SRB), West Ham (ENG)
Rovers will play all of their games at Tallaght Stadium where they boast a 100% European record this summer after beating Ferencvaros 1-0 last night.
And while Bradley is ready to meet any challenge head on, he is not holding out for the glamour draw and said: “We're not thinking about that at all.
“We're thinking that hopefully it's nice to us and we can go and progress. I know it's difficult, we're not silly but I feel if we can go and win games in this group.”
Pot 2 is made up of CFR Cluj (ROU), Molde (NOR), FCSB (ROU), Fiorentina (ITA), Köln (GER), Hapoel Beer-Sheva (ISR), Apollon Limassol (CYP), Slovan Bratislava (SVK)
Rovers cannot draw their fellow Pot 3 seeds who are Nice (FRA), Anderlecht (BEL), Žalgiris Vilnius (LTU), Austria Wien (AUT), Hearts (SCO), Sivasspor (TUR), Vaduz (LIE).
But from Pot 4, they can get Dnipro-1 (UKR), Lech Poznań (POL), Slovácko (CZE), Silkeborg (DEN), Djurgården (SWE), Pyunik (ARM), RFS (LVA) or Ballkani (KOS).
After last night’s exertions and ahead of Sunday’s FAI Cup clash in Drogheda, the Rovers players have the day off today so won’t be grouping together to watch the draw.
And Bradley claimed he would rather someone at the club send him the final draw outcome, rather than watching it live, ball for ball.
“We spoke about it in January that the plan was not just to get to the groups but to go and win games in the groups,” said Bradley.
“We need the draw to be good to you, and you need a bit of luck along the way, but we want to go and win games.
“We've shown against Ludogorets. Shkupi, Ferencvaros, and on many occasions over the years, Limassol, Brann, that we can go and win games in Europe,
“Our record is right up there with the best. We've shown we can win games in Europe and that doesn't stop in the groups.”
