Hibs feeling Euro vibes as Easter Road crackles with anticipation ahead of Legia Warsaw showdown

Which explains, at least in part, why there is such a crackle of energy and anticipation in the air around Easter Road ahead of Thursday night’s visit of Legia Warsaw. Feel free to have a debate over where, precisely, the first leg of a UEFA Conference League play-off sits in the annals of a club rightly proud of their pioneering history. But understand that, given the cast of characters involved and the journey taken just to reach this point, vibes are likely to far outweigh logic once that whistle sounds at 8 pm.

For a couple of hours, this game will be the only thing that matters. As Hibs boss David Gray well understands.

You’d have to go a long way to find a bigger fan of Scottish football than Gray. He’s passionately proud of the product and deeply embedded in its success. Yet he insists that European football has always felt like a special treat for those on the front line of the SPFL.

‘Sort of nights they want to be involved in’

"It certainly did for me,” said Gray, seeking to lead Hibs into group/league phase football for the first time in club history, the Scottish Cup legend adding: “I really enjoyed the different atmospheres you go into, different styles, different type of players.

“In Scotland, you play each other so many times within the year that everybody knows everyone. It's small and everybody knows what everybody is doing all the time.

"In Europe you play against different clubs that the players have never experienced before. And even I when I look back, there were players that went on to do other things that I didn't realise I played against. That happens all the time.

"It is brilliant for the players to experience that, and the different atmospheres. After Belgrade (in the last round), the players spoke to me about whether I had played in an atmosphere like that, and the answer was no. I'm sure they loved it - how loud it was, how hostile it was, because that's the sort of nights they want to be involved in.

“The Villa Park opportunity a couple of seasons ago now, to go and do that, the players loved that one as well. These are all special nights, but they're even made more special, if you know you're going into the game fully believing you're good enough to go and compete, and to go and try and get into the next stage. That's what I need to make sure the message to the players is, that they are good enough to make sure we get to the next stage."

Legia, knocked out of the Europa League by AEK Larnaca in the third qualifying round, represent formidable opposition for Hibs. They reached the quarter-finals of the Conference League last season, only losing out to a Chelsea side boasting a combined transfer market value best described as somewhere on the stratospheric side of obscene.

Biggest challenge of career

Just over a year into life as a football manager, and still just 37, Gray considers the challenge of getting past the Poles to be the biggest test of his coaching career to date, explaining: “Yeah, I think so, I think because of, as you say, the magnitude of the game and what's at stake outside of it.

“The opportunity to be playing in Europe beyond Christmas, the opportunity, the potential fixtures we might get. We've already had two sell-outs, soon to be three sell-outs tomorrow, I'm sure, at Easter Road, and how good that is to play in that environment and coaching that environment myself, testing myself against top coaches. I think it's where we want to be competing at this football club.

“Yeah, listen, Legia are a top side. They got to the quarter-finals in the competition last season. They lost out to Chelsea. Very aggressive, pressed really well. And it'll be a tough test for us. One thing we've demonstrated, though, is that if we play at the level we can, we're a really good side ourselves.”

Drawing on his team’s experience of winning 2-0 in Belgrade, a hugely significant first-leg win that eventually helped them get past Partizan after a 3-2 home loss, Gray said: “I really played it down after the game, the Partizan result, away from home. But if that game was just an isolation on a 90-minute game, to go over to Partizan and win 2-0 on one night, would have been probably one of the biggest results in the club's history in Europe.

“It's not a case of shutting up shop and hoping that we're keeping the tie alive. Not at all. The ideal scenario is to go over there with a lead. That's what you want to do.

“There'll be adversity within it. There'll be periods in the game where we'll have to suffer at times because they're a top side, but they're ready for that. They've been through that already.”