Hibernian Mengincar Tiket Eropa Lewat Laga Pamungkas Kontra Motherwell

Hibernian akan menantang Motherwell di Stadion Easter Road pada pertandingan terakhir Liga Utama Skotlandia, Sabtu, 16 Mei 2026, demi memperebutkan peringkat keempat klasemen untuk mengamankan tiket kualifikasi Liga Konferensi Eropa.

Dilansir dari sumutpost.id, Hibernian kini menempati peringkat kelima dengan 57 poin dari 37 pertandingan dan hanya terpaut satu angka dari Motherwell yang berada di posisi keempat dengan 58 poin.

Berdasarkan laporan edinburghnews.scotsman.com, kemenangan kandang bakal memastikan Hibernian melaju ke babak kualifikasi kedua Liga Konferensi Eropa pada 23 dan 30 Juli, sedangkan Motherwell hanya membutuhkan hasil imbang untuk mempertahankan posisi mereka.

Hibernian berhasil memangkas jarak poin setelah meraih dua kemenangan tandang beruntun melawan Falkirk dan Rangers, termasuk gol menit ke-89 dari Dane Scarlett saat membungkam Rangers 2-1 di tengah pekan.

Sebaliknya, Motherwell kehilangan poin akibat kekalahan tipis 2-3 dari Celtic lewat eksekusi penalti Kelechi Iheanacho pada menit ke-99 menyusul dugaan handball oleh Sam Nicholson.

Laga ini juga menjadi momen perpisahan emosional bagi penyerang veteran Hibernian, Martin Boyle, yang menyudahi karier 11 tahunnya bersama klub setelah mencetak 110 gol dari 406 penampilan.

Pelatih interim Hibernian, David Gray, memberikan penegasan mengenai pentingnya memberikan penghormatan terakhir bagi penyerang andalannya tersebut atas jasa besar yang telah diberikan untuk klub.

"Martin Boyle deserves a proper send-off for what he’s done for the Football Club." kata David Gray, Pelatih Interim Hibernian kepada Hibs TV.

Gray mengapresiasi ketajaman Boyle yang selalu berhasil mencetak gol-gol penting pada fase-fase krusial di akhir musim kompetisi di sepanjang perjalanan kariernya.

"I’ve spoken a lot about Boyle in recent weeks and his contribution. It’s no surprise that he goes and gets big goals again in the latter stages of the season – he’s done that his whole career." ujar David Gray, Pelatih Interim Hibernian.

Pihak manajemen dan tim kepelatihan menaruh harapan tinggi agar tren positif kemenangan beruntun dapat dipertahankan demi mengamankan target posisi keempat di akhir musim.

"I don't know exactly how many goals he’s scored, 110 I think, and the number of appearances he’s made means he deserves to go out on a high. When you speak to him, he certainly wants that as well. I think his level of performance has reflected that in recent weeks too." ucap David Gray, Pelatih Interim Hibernian.

Skuad Hibernian dipastikan tampil dengan kekuatan penuh untuk mengamankan poin maksimal di kandang sendiri, dengan hanya Rudi Molotnikov yang harus absen akibat cedera.

"So there’s one more to go for him and for us to make sure we get what we deserve from the season, which would be a fourth-place finish." tutur David Gray, Pelatih Interim Hibernian.

Gray menginstruksikan anak asuhnya untuk mengusung mentalitas tinggi layaknya pertandingan final demi mengamankan kemenangan yang sangat dibutuhkan oleh klub.

"After a slow start to the split, we knew we needed to try and get three wins to give ourselves the best chance." kata David Gray, Pelatih Interim Hibernian.

Kegagalan kubu lawan meraih poin penuh pada pertandingan sebelumnya sukses dimanfaatkan dengan baik oleh armada Gray untuk memperkecil jarak di papan klasemen.

"We’ve got two out of three so far, and we needed Motherwell to drop points to give us the opportunity to take it to the last day – and that’s happened." ujar David Gray, Pelatih Interim Hibernian.

Kondisi ruang ganti Hibernian dilaporkan berada dalam situasi yang sangat baik serta sepenuhnya siap untuk menghadapi tekanan besar pada laga penentu ini.

"We’ve now got the opportunity to catch the team in front of us. It’ll be a difficult game, but one the players are ready for, with the momentum behind us and everyone in a really good place." ucap David Gray, Pelatih Interim Hibernian.

Tim pelatih menekankan bahwa fokus utama saat ini adalah hasil akhir di papan skor, bukan sekadar menampilkan permainan yang indah secara estetika di lapangan.

"It’s that cup-final attitude we’re going into the game with again." tutur David Gray, Pelatih Interim Hibernian.

Evaluasi menyeluruh terhadap taktik tim tetap berjalan, namun target utama yang tidak bisa ditawar adalah mengamankan tiga poin penuh di hadapan pendukung sendiri.

"From a coaching point of view, you always look at the performance because you’re always trying to improve and analyse different situations in the game." kata David Gray, Pelatih Interim Hibernian.

Keberhasilan mencuri poin penuh di markas Rangers menjadi bukti konkret daya juang tinggi yang ditunjukkan oleh para pemain hingga detik-detik akhir pertandingan.

"But the biggest thing at this stage was all about results because without the result, we could have had the best performance at Ibrox and still not have won the game. It was all about winning, and we knew that going into it." ujar David Gray, Pelatih Interim Hibernian.

Strategi menyerang secara total diterapkan oleh tim pelatih demi membongkar barisan pertahanan lawan pada menit-menit krusial di babak kedua.

"We made a massive point of that. The game plan is to win every single game, of course it is, but in the last 15 or 20 minutes the players really threw caution to the wind and went after Rangers to make sure we did everything possible to get that chance and take it." ucap David Gray, Pelatih Interim Hibernian.

Efektivitas dan ketajaman di lini depan dinilai menjadi kunci utama yang membawa kesuksesan bagi Hibernian dalam mencuri poin krusial pada pekan lalu.

"We were clinical on the night, and it’s going to have to be more of the same." tutur David Gray, Pelatih Interim Hibernian.

Motherwell tercatat menjadi satu-satunya kontestan di liga yang belum pernah berhasil dikalahkan oleh armada Hibernian sepanjang bergulirnya kompetisi musim ini.

"We’re going face a Motherwell side that have been consistent all season, and we need to make sure we put in a complete performance." kata David Gray, Pelatih Interim Hibernian.

Motivasi internal skuad dipastikan berlipat ganda untuk memutus catatan minor pertemuan tersebut sekaligus memberikan kado perpisahan terbaik bagi Boyle.

"One more to go, the incentive is there for every player, and the rewards are certainly there at the back of it as well. Motherwell are now the only team we haven’t beaten this season, and I know there’s an inner drive from the players to change that." ujar David Gray, Pelatih Interim Hibernian.

Di sisi lain, Manajer Hearts Derek McInnes turut mengonfirmasi kondisi skuadnya menjelang pertandingan pekan ini yang melibatkan penyesuaian taktis pada timnya sendiri.

"It's the first time we've had to play three games in a week and his recovery has been a bit more challenging," kata Derek McInnes, Manajer Hearts kepada BBC Scotland.

McInnes menjelaskan bahwa Pierre Landry Kabore diturunkan sejak awal karena tampil apik saat melawan Celtic pada laga sebelumnya.

"Pierre Landry Kabore has done well against Celtic, they'll remember him from last time at Tynecastle. Yes, you lose a wee bit with Braga but you gain from Kabore. The other changes are tactical," tambah Derek McInnes, Manajer Hearts.

Ia juga menyatakan antusiasmenya menghadapi laga yang dinilai sangat krusial bagi kedua tim di akhir musim ini.

"I'm looking forward to it. I like the early start, just getting up and getting on with it. The game is finely poised, it's perfect in the sense of the story in the league," ujar Derek McInnes, Manajer Hearts.

McInnes mengingatkan anak asuhnya untuk waspada menghadapi atmosfer stadion lawan yang diprediksi akan sangat berisik.

"We're up against a team who have got so much to play for as well. I'm confident if we can deliver what we've delivered throughout the majority of the season we can get it over the line," tutur Derek McInnes, Manajer Hearts.

Ia menegaskan keyakinannya kepada para pemain untuk mengamankan poin penuh dalam pertandingan penentu tersebut.

"We're not playing 60,000 fans, we're playing the team. This place will be bedlam, we've just got to make sure we're not gifting opportunities unnecessarily," ucap Derek McInnes, Manajer Hearts.

Ekspektasi tinggi diusung sang manajer karena menganggap momen ini merupakan kesempatan terdekatnya untuk meraih pencapaian besar.

"I've never been so close to winning a league title as a manager. The opportunity is there, I fully believe in the players. If they've got as much belief in themselves as I have then they'll get the job done today," pungkas Derek McInnes, Manajer Hearts.

Kembali ke kubu tuan rumah, David Gray sebelumnya menegaskan fokus utama saat mengalahkan Rangers 2-1 adalah mengamankan kemenangan tanpa memedulikan performa estetis.

"Because of everything we set out to do before we came here, we spoke about the need to win the game - that was all that mattered tonight. The performance level - we can look at that afterwards. There are areas where we know we need to be better. I thought Rangers were really good at times as well, and we relied heavily on our goalkeeper to make some massive saves in the game," kata David Gray, Pelatih Kepala Hibernian dilansir dari edinburghnews.scotsman.com.

Gray memuji daya juang pasukannya yang mampu tampil klinis dan memanfaatkan momentum di menit-menit akhir pertandingan.

"But the players found a way to win. We were still in the game going into the last 15 minutes, and at that point we knew we had nothing to lose. We had to throw everything at it. We became more attacking, opened the game up, and even then, Rangers still had a couple of chances. But we found a couple of clinical moments, and that was the most important thing. It sets things up nicely for Saturday. Before the game, we knew we were relying on Motherwell dropping points, and thankfully, the results went our way. But to take advantage of that, we had to win, and we’ve done that," jelas David Gray, Pelatih Kepala Hibernian.

Sementara itu, Manajer Motherwell Jens Berthel Askou menegaskan timnya tidak ingin terlarut dalam kekecewaan akibat keputusan VAR pada laga sebelumnya.

"We have to move on," kata Jens Berthel Askou, Manajer Motherwell dilansir dari sports.yahoo.com.

Askou meminta timnya segera mengalihkan fokus penuh karena jadwal pertandingan yang sangat padat tidak memberikan waktu untuk meratap.

"We have so little time in between the games now and we can't say that this game tomorrow is less important than what we played the other night. That's the nature of this business, you have to deal with emotions straight away and put them behind you and then focus on what's coming," tutur Jens Berthel Askou, Manajer Motherwell.

Ia mengapresiasi respons positif yang ditunjukkan oleh seluruh anggota tim dan staf pelatih dalam masa persiapan yang singkat.

"I think the boys and the staff have been excellent at that," puji Jens Berthel Askou, Manajer Motherwell.

Askou berambisi membawa Motherwell finis di posisi keempat demi mencatatkan sejarah posisi liga tertinggi klub sejak musim 2013-2014 di luar musim Covid-19.

"Now we have a really good opportunity on finishing fourth, which will give us a ticket to Europe for sure, which will be the highest position in the league since 2013-14 for this club, besides the Covid season that was not fully done," ungkap Jens Berthel Askou, Manajer Motherwell.

Pihak Edinburgh News merinci estimasi hadiah uang yang bisa didapat dari kompetisi Eropa berkisar antara 350.000 euro jika tersingkir di kualifikasi kedua hingga 3.170.000 euro apabila menembus fase liga.