McNeil insists Hibs will be fit for Euro test

ANDY McNEIL today insisted that Hibs will be fighting fit for their crack at Europe – despite having just a month off before the Intertoto Cup begins.

The Easter Road stopper has taken just a week off since the end of the SPL campaign and has been in at the club's training complex every morning to ensure his fitness levels remain high during the close season.

With the Intertoto Cup tie against either Elfsborg or Torshavn just a month away, a number of his team-mates have also been regular fixtures at the East Lothian facility, having each been given a fitness programme to work on over the summer period.

And McNeil believes that if the players report back for pre-season training at the end of this month in peak condition that Hibs can make it through two Intertoto Cup ties and into the UEFA Cup qualifiers.

The Edinburgh side will take on either Torshavn of the Faroe Islands or Elfsborg – with the Swedes favourites to book a place against the Easter Road side – at home on Saturday, July 5 and then away on Saturday, July 12.

And McNeil, while admitting that likely opponents Elfsborg would give them a tough tie, would love to make it all the way through to the UEFA Cup.

McNeil, who has yet to play a first-team match in Europe for Hibs, said: "When you enter competitions, you enter to win them, in the case of the Intertoto Cup, we're looking to qualify for the UEFA Cup. Obviously, the timing of the Intertoto makes it a bit more difficult because we are going straight into a competitive game and won't have had a pre-season as such.

"But I would like to play European football, I would like to play in the UEFA Cup, I am an ambitious player.

"I think that, if we apply ourselves properly and come back at the end of the month in the right physical state, then we can give Elfsborg, if that's who we end up playing, a real good game.

"I don't see any reason why we can't progress in the competition."

Meanwhile, the man charged with tracking Steven Fletcher's progress has been appointed coach of Real Madrid Castilla – Real's second-string team – for the next two seasons.

Julen Lopetegui, who had been acting as director of the club's international scouting department, has been impressed with the young Hibs striker.

Hibs manager Mixu Paatelainen insisted a week ago that Fletcher is going nowhere, however Lopetegui revealed at the weekend that the 21-year-old and a number of other prominent youngsters from across Europe, will be discussed at a meeting of the Bernabeu club's hierarchy over the next few weeks.

Unlike in Britain, Spanish reserve sides play in the same league system as the first-team but cannot play in the same league as their senior team.

Reserve teams are no longer allowed to enter the Copa del Rey but they have produced a host of big-name stars with Roberto Soldado and Raul among those who have progressed through the ranks. Former Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez started his coaching career with the club.