Dundee United striker Johnny Russell believes the Arena Khimki will be the perfect stage on which to show Russia and the rest of Europe that Scots do have the skill factor.
Russell was taken aback to discover that Dinamo Moscow didn’t even bother to watch the Tangerines in the flesh before the first leg of their Europa League third qualifying round tie last week.
Indeed, coach Sergei Silkin, subsequently sacked after losing to Spartak Moscow on Sunday, admitted after that 2-2 draw that United were a totally different proposition to the side he watched on video footage from last year.
It was a remarkable admission but, after their impressive display against Dinamo, Russell feels the Tangerines should not be underestimated again when they play in the Russian capital tomorrow night.
Asked if the Muscovites were short on respect when they didn’t bother to send someone to see United play while the Tannadice men flew coach Paul Hegarty to St Petersburg to see Dinamo in action, Russell replied: ”Definitely. There were a few comments as well.
”I do think foreign teams are a bit disrespectful that way.
”They came into the game not thinking that we were going to get the result we did get.
”They think that all Scottish teams are going to do is work hard.
”But we have a lot of great technical players in Scotland I have said that so many times.
”And I do think when we play teams like that they do get a bit of an eye-opener.
”People made out going into the first game that they were going to be massive and that it was going to be a bit of a doing.
”But it didn’t turn out that way. We definitely think we can win the game and go through.
”You have to consider how we played against them at Tannadice.
”We put ourselves about and we had absolutely nothing to be ashamed of.
”They have a massive bank balance that means they can go and bring in good players.
”However, I still think we can give a good account of ourselves.”
No United player has the skill factor more than Gary Mackay-Steven, of course, who was the man-of-the-match in the first leg and tied full-back Luke Wilkshire in knots.
Russell believes Dinamo will have learned their lesson when it comes to marking the winger.
”You fancy Gaz to give any player a hard time,” he said.
”He can go inside or outside and is so quick and strong. Gaz is a great player and a great asset for our club.”
”If you give him space then he is going to hurt you. So they could give him a wee bit extra attention.”
United suffered late heartbreak last week, with Russian international striker Aleksandr Kokorin’s shot defecting in off midfielder Richie Ryan in the dying seconds to deny the home side victory.
Russell admitted he and his teammates were devastated at the time, but the 3-0 weekend win over Hibs in the SPL helped get it out of their system.
”After we put everything into the game it was a sickening blow to only draw against Dinamo,” said Russell.
”Although it was strong opposition we were playing, it felt a little bit like a defeat in the end.
”It was especially hard to take the sucker-punch right at the last minute with the deflection.
”We always seem to get wonder goals scored against us in Europe but that one was just a sickener.
”Now the plan is to channel that disappointment into something positive in Moscow.
”And the boys came out of the traps against Hibs on Sunday and we kicked on from there to get a great win in our first league match. So we will be going to attack Dinamo and not sit back.
”We are exciting when we are going forward and hopefully that will carry us through what is a really tough match.”
l United fans will be basking in sunshine when they arrive in Moscow today, with temperatures in the city expected to reach 27 degrees C.
It is expected to be only a few degrees cooler tomorrow and the 8pm kick-off (local time) will be appreciated by the players.