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By Dan Sansom
Last Updated: 09/04/19 3:37pm
Aberdeen boss Derek McInnes says the club always aim to win trophies ahead of his side’s Scottish Cup semi-final against Celtic.
The two sides go head-to-head at Hampden Park on Sunday looking to reach next month’s final, with the winner facing either Hearts or Inverness, and McInnes insists Aberdeen’s target at the start of each season is to secure at least one piece of silverware.
“The intention when we enter the competition is to win it and now there’s only four teams left,” he said.
“It’s always the intention at our club to try and at least win one trophy every season. We’ve hit the post a few times and we’ve put ourselves forward enough times and now we’ve got an opportunity to try and get the club into another final.”
McInnes will lead Aberdeen to the club’s eighth national semi-final since he took charge in 2013 and after knocking Rangers out at the quarter-final stage of the tournament, the 47-year-old believes his squad can cope with the pressure.
“We overcame that hurdle at Ibrox and we showed we can deal with these types of games,” he added.
“I’ve put together three or four squads in my time. It’s a younger squad this season and they’ve dealt with a lot of expectation. Younger players sometimes go and play the game and not the occasion.
“I always feel in these types of games that it’s important to let the opposition know you’re in their face. An Aberdeen team should always have that confidence to go and play.
“There’s been some tough challenges to get to where we are, there’s another tough challenge ahead of us, but it’s a game that we’re certainly looking forward to.”
Celtic beat Aberdeen in the Scottish League Cup final in December and as the two teams prepare to face off in a domestic cup competition yet again, McInnes says his players can think positively heading into the match.
“What’s clear in the Celtic squad is that they have fantastic players, good individuals and individuals who can win a game on their own,” he said.
“They’ve always been a very driven and experienced squad and they’ve been used to winning things.
“However, the last few times we’ve faced them we’ve always been in the game, we’ve been very close to winning, and we feel we’ve done enough in recent matches against them to go into this game with plenty of confidence.”