It is highly unlikely that Thursday will be a pleasant evening for Motherwell fans. We may well progress, in which case we will rightly celebrate, but the actual 90 minutes will probably be nerve-racking and frustrating.
Aalesunds are far from an impressive team but we are realistic enough to know that we are no great shakes ourselves. Besides, we have lost to mediocre opposition often enough in the past to know nothing can be taken for granted and making a mess of things is far from impossible.
Not only will we be in the unusual situation of knowing a 0-0 draw will be enough – do we go for it or do we sit back? - but there will be plenty of pressure on everyone involved.
The players will be dreaming of running out in Liverpool, Lisbon or Turin in the next round but Craig Brown will be anxiously looking at his transfer budget. Despite losing two of our best players in Ruddy and Jutkiewicz and two other regulars – and no doubt hefty chunks of our modest wage bill – departing in the shape of O'Brien and Coke, we have struggled to make new additions to the pool.
Darren Randolph seems as good a signing as we could realistically hope to make to be our new 'keeper but Hollis and Charalambous are future prospects at best, meaning our already limited options are still three short of what they were last term.
The extent to which we are shoving Reynolds out the door is becoming embarrassing but a glamour draw in the next Europa round could change our circumstances drastically. A crowd of 12,000 at Fir Park to see Liverpool or a bumper cheque from German television would be a huge boost financially as well as giving the fans a pair of ties to remember.
But first we must successfully see off Aalesund on Thursday. No pressure guys!