DEREK McINNES reckons the Europa League starts for real now at a packed Pittodrie next week as Aberdeen chase their Group Stages dream against Maribor.

Aberdeen flew the flag for Scottish football this week after Hearts and Hibs were eliminated as they eased through against Latvian side Ventspils.

Next up is Slovenians Maribor and McInnes knows an altogether tougher challenge awaits against their experienced European competition opponents.

The Dons have crashed out at this stage in the past two seasons to Real Sociedad and Kairat Almaty.

But McInnes is confident a full Pittodrie in the first leg on Thursday will help his side take an advantage to the second leg.

He said: "In every cup tournament there is an increase in the level of competition the further you progress. So Maribor will provide that in the next round.

"We will have to make sure we’re ready for it because they are a well-known side and have done very well in the past. It will take a strong Aberdeen performance next Thursday.

"The likelihood is that there will be 17,000 or 18,000 at the game so the competition is heating up. We will be looking to get through that tie and I definitely think we’re capable of it.

"We had people at the Levski Sofia v Maribor match on Thursday and we watched the first leg of their tie on the plane home from Latvia.

"We want Europe to give us the best experience we can get and the aim is to get through this tie. It will take an improved level of performance but I think we’re getting there.

"We just want to put ourselves in the position where you are only one game from the group stages. That’s what we’re all working towards and that’s what our focus is on because we know the benefits of it for everyone."

And McInnes reckons Aberdeen's progress means the pressure has eased on them as they achieve more match fitness too.

He pointed out: "There is pressure in the first two rounds because when the names come out of the hat people automatically think ‘oh well, Aberdeen will win that’.

"But when you take a closer look at it, the teams are decent and they have good players. When you come out at these games, like Thursday night in Latvia for example, it doesn’t feel like a top arena and there’s not a huge crowd.

"So you have to make sure that the players treat the game with the respect it’s due. That’s no disrespect to the teams we’ve played but you know if you get through there are bigger teams, bigger stadiums lying in wait for you.

"That’s the excitement of being in Europe but you need these games to get ready for it. And it’s difficult to do that at this time of the year.

“There is a pressure in the first few rounds because, and you have heard managers in Scotland talk about it in relation to the League Cup format, it still feels like pre-season. You are not game-ready and in our case you can come up against teams who are well into their season.

"We have played four competitive games now, I think we’ve had three good ones and one where we really were not at it."

Adam Rooney knows what to expect against Maribor, having played against them when he was at Birmingham City in the Group Stages of the same competition in 2011.

And he managed to net the only goal of the game at St Andrews as Birmingham defeated them 1-0 at home and 2-1 in Slovenia.

Now he's determined to held the Dons get past the third qualifying round, after twice failing at this stage for the past two years.

Rooney said: "Their stadium was something else - their fans were nuts. Their fans were bouncing for 90 minutes and they had three guys behind the goal who didn’t even look at the game.

"They had big microphones and kept the fans singing. It was a brilliant atmosphere but we won 2-1 in the end and we also beat them 1-0 at Birmingham and I got a header.

"So I’ve got good memories and hopefully there’s another one to come. Their atmosphere was inspiring, it’s great to play in and that’s what we want in this competition. It was great to witness, incredible. I’m not sure it will be the same. It got a bit quieter when we went 2-1 up, but it was a great occasion.

"There wasn't a great atmosphere in Latvia with a running track round the pitch and no real crowd so we look forward to this one although we know it will be difficult.

"We take confidence from the last couple of years and hopefully put in a good performance. Their record against Scottish clubs won’t play any real part.

"It’s one-off game and we’ve never played them before. We will go into the game and hopefully if we play to our level then we’ve shown we can beat most teams.

"The last two years we have been knocked out in the third qualifying round by Real Sociedad and Kairat Almaty which was unfortunate, but we look forward to the games to come and as in any competition the thing to focus on is getting through.

"We are now not far away from the Group Stages so the thing to do is take confidence from the wins and the clean sheets in the last two games and try to build on that."