Jimmy Thelin says Aberdeen’s ever-growing team spirit will be the key to toppling Celtic in the Premier Sports Cup semi-final and going on to lift a major trophy.
The Dons are in dreamland under the Swede and remain unbeaten in all competitions since his appointment at the start of the summer.
Thelin has guided Aberdeen to 28 points in the Premiership already this season – the latest three gained against Rangers on Wednesday – with Celtic unable to shake off the presence of the high-flying Dons in the title race.
And the champions will have to deal with the threat of Aberdeen up close on Saturday when the two sides meet for the second time in a couple of weeks at Hampden Park.
Aberdeen gave Celtic a massive scare last time out at Parkhead as they came home with a point after a thrilling 2-2 draw.
It was the sheer desire and spirit to get back into the game from 2-0 down which sent shockwaves across Scottish football and those traits have been the theme of this brilliant team across the whole campaign so far.
And Thelin, speaking to the press ahead of the Premier Sports Cup semi-final, says they’ll need to show that same team spirit if they want to go all the way in the competition.
Aberdeen have ‘strong belief’ says Thelin
The manager said: “First of all, we need a good performance on Saturday. It’s a semi-final, we know it’s a cup, if you lose you’re out.
“If you win you go to the final, but the focus should be a good performance and giving everything we have and then let’s see the result.
“But everybody has to believe that they can do it. Otherwise, it’s unnecessary to play the game. So we have a strong belief that we know it’s going to be a tough game. We have to go 100 per cent in with a strong belief we can make it.”
“Yeah, I think it’s (winning) for everyone that’s working. Everybody wants to win something, but the nicest thing is to see how the players grow, how we create a strong team spirit and how we can try to build this capacity that we can give us a chance of winning.
“Sometimes you can have a really good performance but you miss with a touch or whatever, but to see and create this togetherness and the spirit that we can give us a chance to do this kind of thing is what I want.”
Thelin’s previous double cup heartache
Thelin was reminded at his press conference of the two occasions when he reached cup semi-finals in Sweden and losing both, one with IFK Gothenburg and the other managing Hammarby.
But the 46-year-old isn’t thinking about those losses too much ahead of the Celtic test. He recalled: “Let’s see here, yeah, I lost to one team, Gothenburg, in extra time.
“It was not so nice, so, hopefully, it’s better next time. (Hammarby), yeah, remind me a lot of things now.
“Yeah, I can’t remember now, but we were quite good in, but, yeah, it is what it is. No, I think like, for me, it’s more about again like, as long as you work in this business you can’t think about what you have achieved or not achieved.
“You have to just be hungry where you are and it’s a new context, a new club and a new team I work with. We have to use the opportunities we have here, I don’t think about what I missed before. It’s not that for me.”