Aaron Hughes is determined not to let a volcanic eruption disrupt Fulham’s bid to reach a major European Final when the Whites take on Hamburg in the first leg of the UEFA Europa League Semi-Final in Germany on Thursday night.
Hughes and company began their road trip to Hamburg on Tuesday afternoon and the Northern Ireland international highlighted the need to stay focused in light of recent travel disruption across Europe.
“The most important thing is staying focused on the task in hand and just get on with it,” Hughes explained to fulhamfc.com.
“We know what’s at stake and we’ve done really, really well to get here and we’re eager not to let it go.
“All those games that we’ve played throughout the season and all the matches that were changed to a Sunday instead of a Saturday – hopefully the extra effort we’ve put in won’t be for nothing in the end.
“We want to take that extra step to the Final. There are a lot of us that haven’t won something so prestigious. Obviously Danny’s won a few trophies with Liverpool but the majority of us haven’t so for us it would be a big thing.”
Hughes will be competing against a certain Dutch striker on Thursday night whom the defender knows well from past encounters on the domestic front.
“We know what he [Ruud van Nistelrooy] is like from his time playing in the Premier League with Manchester United. A few of us have played against him before so we know what a threat he poses.
“He’s a finisher with a strong, physical presence with a lot of ability. We know he’ll be a threat and we’ll need to keep an eye on him.”
Whilst the focus of attention has now turned towards Thursday night’s game in Hamburg, Hughes is determined to record a successful finish to the season on both the domestic and European fronts this season as the Club reaches the business end of the 2009/10 campaign.
“We’ve come along way since beating Portsmouth to stay up and a lot of people wouldn’t have believed we would be here but it’s been through a lot of hard work and effort.
“I think for us to finish in the top ten again would be a big achievement. We’ve done what we set out to do at the start of the season which is to make sure we’re in the Premier League next year.
“It would be nice to finish in the top ten again considering all the games we’ve had to play. We want to finish the season on a high and we’ve got to keep the momentum going.”
