After last week's penalty dramatics in Riga last week, Dundalk welcome Qarabag to Oriel Park for the first leg of their Champions League second-round qualifier.
The Azerbaijani champions have enjoyed strong runs in Europe in recent years, having made the group stage of the Champions League two-years ago taking two-points off Atletico Madrid along the way.
Lilywhites boss Vinny Perth knows the task they double winners are facing.
“It’s obviously a really difficult tie. They’ve got very strong pedigree in European football and a lot of really quality players.
“We’ve got to be patient in the game and we’ve got to understand that they’ll have a certain amount of the football. We’ll have to set up in a certain shape to suit that but, at the same time, we’ve got really good attacking players. Generally, we score goals in games and it’s a night for someone to stand up and score a big European goal for us. That’s the challenge for the players.”
“It’s a very difficult tie but, here in Oriel, we’ll have a right go off them and we feel that there are some areas we can exploit them. At the same time we’re very understanding that they are a good side who will own the ball for a lot of the time.”
Michael Duffy is in line to return to the team after becoming a father during last week's dramatic win at Riga but Perth knows tonight's opponents are a step up in quality for Dundalk.
“I think Qarabag are up there as one of the better sides that we’ve played against in the last six or seven years, because of technically how good they are on the ball. That gives them an advantage over some of the other teams we’ve played against.
“We’re going to have to go up to another level – that’s been the challenge to the players. We spoke about it in the off-season, about Europe and what it means to this group. They want to be challenged by Europe. It is a big challenge for us but, at the same time, these are the games you want to test yourself in.
“It is Champions League football and the rewards in terms of the next round are huge for us. We’ll have a go. We feel we’ve an opportunity to win the tie, albeit it will be a very difficult tie.”
