Aberdeen manager Derek McInnes praised his side for their resilience in holding off Rijeka’s comeback from a 3-0 first leg deficit, as they drew 2-2 to win 5-2 on aggregate.
Goals from Niall McGinn and Jonny Hayes secured the draw, which helped to book a Europa League qualifying third round tie against Kairat Almaty of Kazakhstan.
McInnes said “It was an anxious evening for a minute. When the second goal went in the momentum was with them and they started to believe.
“We always knew if we scored what they would require would be too much and at half-time we were pleased with what the players had given us.
“No-one will test our discipline domestically like that and their movement and swiftness of their play was excellent.
“They really tested us but we handed it excellently and created enough chances.”
The Aberdeen coach expects a similar test against the Kazakh side, saying: “I’ve got three games to watch and we’ll have them watched on Sunday. They’ve got their last game on Sunday before the split and have only lost 13 goals in the league this season.
“They don’t find goals hard to come by either and it will be a tough ask but we expect that at this stage. They will know they are getting a tough team at this stage of the competition too.”
He added: “The distance makes the tie a bit more complicated but we’d rather be in it than watching others take part. Every experience is different and European football can throw that up, but our flight is booked, we’ll travel with enough room to let the players get their heads down in the flight, and we’ll be ready for the game.
“We’ve worked so hard to have nights like this and we are determined to have a few more.”
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TOURNAMENT INFO
Fixtures
Sunday January 5 - Oman v UAE
Monday January 6 - UAE v Namibia
Wednesday January 8 - Oman v Namibia
Thursday January 9 - Oman v UAE
Saturday January 11 - UAE v Namibia
Sunday January 12 – Oman v Namibia
UAE squad
Ahmed Raza (captain), Rohan Mustafa, Mohammed Usman, CP Rizwan, Waheed Ahmed, Zawar Farid, Darius D’Silva, Karthik Meiyappan, Jonathan Figy, Vriitya Aravind, Zahoor Khan, Junaid Siddique, Basil Hameed, Chirag Suri
Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
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Match info
Australia 580
Pakistan 240 and 335
Result: Australia win by an innings and five runs
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