Hibernian Hadapi Motherwell Rebut Tiket Kualifikasi Eropa Sabtu Ini

Hibernian akan menjamu Motherwell di Stadion Easter Road pada Sabtu, 16 Mei 2026, dalam laga penentu untuk mengamankan tiket kualifikasi Liga Konferensi Eropa pada pekan terakhir Scottish Premiership.

Dilansir dari sumutpost.id, tuan rumah Hibernian kini berada di peringkat kelima klasemen dengan 57 poin, hanya terpaut satu angka dari Motherwell yang menduduki posisi keempat dengan 58 poin.

Berdasarkan laporan edinburghnews.scotsman.com, kemenangan di kandang akan memastikan langkah Hibernian ke babak kualifikasi kedua kompetisi Eropa tersebut, sementara hasil imbang sudah cukup bagi Motherwell untuk mempertahankan posisi mereka.

Namun, jika Hibernian finis di posisi kelima, mereka masih memiliki jalur alternatif ke Eropa apabila Celtic berhasil mengalahkan Dunfermline Athletic dalam final Piala Skotlandia pada 23 Mei 2026.

Manajer Hearts, Derek McInnes, memberikan keterangan mengenai kondisi timnya menjelang rangkaian pertandingan pekan ini yang dinilai sangat krusial bagi peta persaingan liga.

"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 beberapa rotasi pemain terpaksa dilakukan demi menjaga kebugaran skuad di tengah jadwal kompetisi yang padat.

"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 kesiapannya dalam menghadapi atmosfer pertandingan yang diprediksi akan berlangsung sangat intens.

"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," tutur Derek McInnes, Manajer Hearts.

McInnes optimis timnya mampu meraih hasil maksimal asalkan para pemain bisa mempertahankan konsistensi performa yang telah ditunjukkan sepanjang musim.

"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," ucap Derek McInnes, Manajer Hearts.

Evaluasi taktik juga ditekankan agar tim tidak memberikan keuntungan cuma-cuma kepada pihak lawan.

"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," tegas Derek McInnes, Manajer Hearts.

McInnes menutup keterangannya dengan mengungkapkan besarnya kepercayaan diri yang ia miliki terhadap kemampuan anak asuhnya untuk mengunci kemenangan.

"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.

Di kubu tuan rumah, Kepala Pelatih Hibernian, David Gray, memberikan komentar setelah kemenangan penting 2-1 melawan Rangers di tengah pekan yang menjaga peluang timnya tetap hidup.

"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," ujar David Gray, Kepala Pelatih Hibernian.

Menurut laporan sumutpost.id, gol dramatis Dane Scarlett pada menit ke-89 menjadi penentu kemenangan Hibernian atas Rangers sekaligus memangkas jarak poin dengan Motherwell.

"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," papar David Gray, Kepala Pelatih Hibernian.

Sementara itu, Manajer Motherwell, Jens Berthel Askou, menegaskan fokus timnya tidak terganggu oleh kekalahan kontroversial 3-2 dari Celtic akibat penalti di masa injury time.

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

Askou meminta anak asuhnya untuk segera melupakan hasil buruk tersebut dan langsung mengalihkan konsentrasi penuh pada pertandingan penentu di Easter Road.

"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," jelas Jens Berthel Askou, Manajer Motherwell.

Ia memuji ketahanan mental skuadnya yang dinilai mampu mengatasi tekanan situasi dengan sangat baik.

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

Askou menambahkan bahwa finis di posisi keempat akan menjadi pencapaian tertinggi klub dalam beberapa tahun terakhir di luar musim yang terdampak pandemi.

"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.

Pihaknya menekankan ada motivasi besar di dalam tim untuk mencatatkan sejarah penting bagi klub sepak bola tersebut.

"That would be a massive achievement for us, especially taking into consideration that there was a big rebuild of the squad and the staff and a lot of new things implemented in the summer," lanjut Jens Berthel Askou, Manajer Motherwell.

Para pemain dilaporkan berada dalam kondisi siap tempur untuk menunjukkan performa terbaik mereka sekali lagi.

"They're [the players] just excited and ready. I'm confident and positive they will demonstrate that one more time. Obviously there's a massive determination to go and achieve something," imbuh Jens Berthel Askou, Manajer Motherwell.

Mengenai Sam Nicholson yang terlibat dalam insiden penalti handball di laga sebelumnya, Askou memastikan sang pemain dalam kondisi baik dan keputusannya melakukan halauan sudah tepat.

"He did everything right in the situation," bela Jens Berthel Askou, Manajer Motherwell.

Askou menyatakan tindakan bertahan yang agresif seperti yang dilakukan Nicholson akan kembali dibutuhkan tim pada laga Sabtu ini.

"He tried to clear the ball, he headed it away. There was a little bit of contact which the opposition player overplayed," tutur Jens Berthel Askou, Manajer Motherwell.

Ia berharap korps wasit dapat menjalankan tugasnya dengan lebih akurat pada pertandingan penutup musim ini.

"I would not ask him not to go and clear the ball with his head in the 95th minute. We need that tomorrow. I would ask him to do exactly the same and then hope and pray for the guys responsible to get that right," tutup Jens Berthel Askou, Manajer Motherwell.