Motherwell drew 1-1 in the first leg in Helsinki last week
Alfred Johansson has told his Motherwell side they will need to produce a "strong, strong performance" to see off HJK Helsinki and grasp the carrot of a glamour tie against Freiburg.
Motherwell and the Finnish side are tied at 1-1 going into the second leg of their Conference League third qualifying round tie at Fir Park on Thursday.
The winner of the tie will face German club Freiburg, who were finalists in the Europa League last season.
Johansson is expecting a tough game against battle-hardened HJK, with just three matches left of the regular season in the Finnish league to play.
Last week in Finland Tawanda Maswanhise's penalty put the visitors ahead but HJK boss Joonas Rantanen then introduced Teemu Pukki and the former Celtic striker showed his quality to draw his side level.
"In the second half we were more fearless and more aggressive," said Johansson, who was coach of Norwegian side Rosenborg for two-and-a-half years before arriving in Lanarkshire.
"Sometimes you have to manage the momentum of the game and that's what we did. Now we must be strong.
"But we are at Fir Park, with all of our people there, and we want to excite them and play our way. We think it's the best way to get the result we need.
"It's different and special when you play European games. It's later at night and there is just another feeling around the place."
'That's a fine!'
Team news
Motherwell defender Dylan Williams will spend "another week or two" on the sidelines while strikers Eythor Bjorgolfsson and Apostolos Stamatelopoulos are training again but not yet with the team.
Joe Hodge is also unavailable after joining for an undisclosed fee, but Johansson is thrilled with the midfielder's arrival.
"Absolutely buzzing to have him here. Joe is a very exciting young midfielder. He is mainly a number six in our system but can also have a box-to-box role but we mainly see him as a six," he added.
"Joe represents the last five years of the development of a number six, that you have the quality on the ball but you have the mobility. We believe it's a perfect match.
"It's super-important to strengthen this area after losing some players. We are a club that needs to find potential where it has been overlooked."
