Confident Barry Robson insists Aberdeen don't fear Rangers as they look to end their nine-year trophy drought by defeating Philippe Clement's men at Hampden on Sunday.
The old foes will lock horns in the Viaplay Cup Final knowing they can deliver the ultimate Christmas present. Robson, 45, has tasted cup glory as an Aberdeen player and is now desperate to lift silverware as manager. He acknowledges that Rangers are strong favourites going into the clash given their impressive recent record under Clement but has challenged his squad to give their maximum in the hope they can clinch the first major honour of the Scottish football calendar. Aberdeen are six-time winners of this competition and the Inverurie-born gaffer believes his team, who have racked up two consecutive victories against Hearts and Eintracht Frankfurt in preparation for this all or nothing tie, have shown they can compete with the best side's in Europe this season and can use that as a benchmark to gift the Red Army a day to remember come Sunday evening. Speaking at Cormack Park, Robson said: “I’ve said to the players the games they’ll remember are the big ones - the cup finals, playing in Europe. Those are the days and nights you look back on when you finish up. “All you can do is give your all in the game and when you do that you can always sleep at night. These boys will, I have no doubt about that. “You have to come off the pitch knowing you couldn’t have done any more. As a player I made wrong decisions on the ball and sometimes you don’t play well, but you always have to give your all. “I don’t ask players to beat five men and stick it in the top corner. Just give me your all - and that’s what they do every week. It’s been a challenging year having so many games and it has been different. But this is where we want to be. We want to be playing in cup finals and playing against top teams. “We have shown we can defend well in big games but are also capable of going after teams too. It’s an old cliche but we have to make sure we’re at our best all over the pitch because we are underdogs coming up against a very good team in Rangers. “We respect Rangers but we don’t fear them. We have played well against them this season so will take confidence from that. “They should be confident because they have played really well against some top teams. The good thing for us going into the cup final is we’ve played a lot of big, big games away from home this season. “We’ve been to big stadiums against big teams, so that experience helps. When you play in big grounds with big atmospheres you learn to handle it."
Robson featured the last time Aberdeen tasted cup success when they beat Inverness Caledonian Thistle on penalties to win the League Cup at Celtic Park in 2014 under Derek McInnes. McInnes once claimed that's the benchmark set at the club that every manager will be judged by. Robson understands that sentiment and is praying he can add his own name to that list if they can bring their A-game on Sunday. He continued: “Is silverware the benchmark you have to hold yourself too? Yes, definitely. I also think a big thing for Aberdeen is Europe and getting into group stages of competitions. “Going to manage in Europe is something I have always wanted to do, come up against the best teams and top players. But we all know how important it is here as an Aberdeen manager to lift silverware. “It has been too long since we last did it. There have been a few clubs who have not lifted trophies. What we have done is put ourselves in a position to do it. It won’t be easy but if we bring our A-game all over the pitch we’ll have a chance. “We need to put a plan in place to stop Rangers and try to hurt them, so we’ll be working on that. This team is young and in its infancy so the best is still to come from us. We will get stronger and stronger as time goes on."
Aberdeen weren't given a fair 50/50 Hampden allocation from SPFL chiefs, which caused a mad scramble to land a golden brief for the match. Robson has even had his own role to play in the distribution of tickets after admitting that he was inundated with messages from family and friends because of the huge demand across the city. “I’ve had plenty of people after tickets off me," he laughed. “I’m spending Friday night dropping them off, to be honest. I’m heading over to my best mate’s to give him his ones. “He’s not even bothering to come and get them from me - he asked me to bring them to him! I’m going to do it, I’ll deliver his for him, we’ll train on Saturday then head down to Glasgow on the bus. “The most important thing for me is to see people happy - the players and their families, the people who work hard here in the background and the fans. What gives me the pleasure is seeing the people here who work so hard getting rewards for it. “Seeing everyone else happy is what makes me happy. Am I nervous before these kind of games? I’ll sleep fine, I’m okay with that. “I’ll get a good sleep because I know I’ll give everything, my staff will give everything and the players will as well. Just go out there, give your best and try to win."
