“Am I really here?” joked Grant Scott as he checked his Italian surrounds ahead of this evening’s game against Inter Milan. The Hibs manager has his work cut out for him as he looks to plot a way past the Italian side to progress to the second and final qualification stage of the inaugural UEFA Women’s Europa Cup.
The odds are firmly stacked against Hibs but this is a team that has compounded perceptions across recent months. In any case, regardless of the magnitude that awaits at the Konami Training Centre tonight and then at Easter Road next Wednesday night, Scott is determined that his side will relish the chance that has presented itself to them.
“Truthfully, the players know that this is going to be tough,” he said. “But there is real excitement, albeit we have had to lift them after a disappointing defeat to Hearts at the weekend.
“This is one of those games tomorrow night that you go and take on the challenge and see where you are. We are under no illusions that they are a top side. The development in the Italian women’s game across the last ten, even five years has been exceptional.
“You can see the standard and we know that the opposition players will be of a really good calibre. The likes of Lina Magull, the German internationalist, is an outstanding talent. But this is a chance for our players to go and have their eyes open to this standard.
“Some of them may well then go and kick on in their careers and others will know where their standard is – and that applies to us in the coaching staff as well.
“But it is incredibly exciting, a huge challenge for us and one that we want to go and try and enjoy as best we can.”
Glasgow City manager Leanne Ross has admitted that it is harder for Scottish teams to compete in the Champions League given the increasing chasm in resources – but has insisted that the inaugural Europa Cup would still offer a learning curve.
City take on Irish side Athlone Town at Petershill tonight with Ross confident that any exposure to European football can have a lasting benefit.
City can boast of being Champions League quarter-finalists twice in their history with Ross wanting the current crop of players to get a taste of what that means.
“This new tournament still offers us the chance of European football and we want to take that,” she said. “When you look at our history as a stand alone club and what we have achieved, we have probably punched above our weight at times.
“But playing European football gave me some of the best times of my career. I want some of the younger players here to be able to go and see what that is like.
“At City we always wants to be playing against the best and this competition will be a chance to do that this season.
“We had a look at Athlone and they definitely have one or two players in their starting XI capable of causing us problems so it is important that we are switched on to that.”
Ross is also confident that as the season goes deeper, she would have enough depth at City to cope with a two-pronged assault on domestic and European football.
“We recruited with that in mind,” she said. “I do think that we have got good depth in the squad not and I also think that we have players who are pushing one another for places in the starting line-up. That can only be a benefit to us as a squad.”
