Aberdeen midfielder Connor Barron reckons they should have been European heroes this season instead of their succession of hard luck tales.
The Dons are on a high after defeating Hibs with ten men to reach the Viaplay Cup Final against Rangers next month in the semi-final on Sunday.
But they face a daunting task tomorrow in Greece against PAOK in the fourth round of games in the Europa Conference League.
So far this season in Europe, it's been a story of 'what if' for Barry Robson's side after a host of missed opportunities.
In the Europa League play-off round, they fought back to take a 2-2 draw with Swedish champions Hacken back to Pittodrie only to lose at home despite having almost 30 shots on goal.
They won plenty of plaudits for their display against last year's Europa League winners Eintracht Frankfurt in Germany with Dante Polvara equalising and a late missed volley from Ester Solker almost earned them a point in a 2-1 defeat.
Then worst of all, they blew a 2-0 lead at home to the Greeks with 17 minutes to left, were denied a clear penalty and lost out to a VAR penalty decision to lose 3-2 at Pittodrie last month.
And Barron, who has recaptured his previous excellent form this season, insists they are kicking themselves.
He said: "If you look at the Hacken game, Helsinki, PAOK and Frankfurt - every game we played we should have got a result. We have just been unlucky.
"Whether that is because we are new to the competition and some players haven’t played there, I don’t know.
"We take confidence from every single one of those games. We learn from it and move on taking the positives and the negatives.
"We could have managed the PAOK game a bit better. As players on the pitch we should have seen that game out.
"But I feel my game is improving by playing these teams 100 per cent. When I go away with the Scotland U21s we play against these players who perform in these leagues week in week out.
"So I can kind of relate in that sense because the players we are playing against are quite similar. The way these teams try to play football suits me as well.
"I like to test myself against the best players out there. We have dealt with the teams really well but have just been unlucky in the games that we did not get the results we should.
"We can take confidence from the performances but now it is about us getting results."
Barron admitted the PAOK defeat was a particularly hard result to swallow. He said: "It was hard. It didn’t really settle in until a few days after. But that is just football when you play against top teams and top players.
"Every time you give the ball away you know you are going to get punished. Unfortunately, we just switched off at crucial points in the game and it cost us in the end.
"To go two goals up against one of the best teams in Greece, they are a top, top team so we have to take confidence from that. And from the way we played in the first 70 minutes.
"We take it over to Greece. That is the atmosphere you want to be playing in. Over here you have it at Ibrox, Celtic Park and Pittodrie.
"It is something I thrive off of and we really need to take it in our stride over there. We have experienced boys like Graeme Shinnie, Jonny Hayes, and Kelle Roos who have played on this stage who can help the younger boys who maybe haven’t had a taste of it yet."
