Euro rivals Maribor slam Hibs over 'lack of respect'

The outburst came as Maribor coach Darko Milanic led his players into Easter Road for the customary training session ahead of tonight's second leg of the Europa League third qualifying round in which they hold a three-goal advantage.

The Slovenians had arrived late at the ground, claiming to have spent some 75 minutes travelling from their plush hotel in West Lothian - where the players' afternoon nap had been interrupted by a fire alarm - with their driver losing his way in Edinburgh.

Milanic promptly cancelled an arranged Press conference as he and his players headed straight for the pitch, leaving media officer Zeljko Latin to lay into Hibs. Latin said: "In 20 years of playing in Europe, this has never happened to Maribor.

"We were driving for an hour and a quarter and we were circling round Easter Road for half-an-hour because the driver said he did not know where he has to go. Maybe he was from Glasgow, or something.

"There was a fire alarm at the hotel in the middle of the players' resting time and, after all these things, we couldn't be at the ground at the scheduled time for training.

"After all we had done for our football friends from Hibernian we expected more respect. Such things are a big surprise to us but, after all of this, we can say it keeps us more motivated for the match."

Asked who he blamed for the mishaps, Latin initially insisted no-one, adding: "We just want to say we should be treated with more respect."

When pressed as to who he felt should have showed Maribor more respect, Latin replied: "Our hosts."

Maribor's whining continued as they began their training session, Latin complaining of a "broken" set of goals which were "dangerous and could have fallen on a player" although it later emerged the goals in question were a training set which are designed to be dismantled.

Hibs officials were clearly stunned and bemused by the complaints, stating only that Maribor, and not the Easter Road club, were responsible for their accommodation and travel arrangements.

Those arrangements were made by Professional Pre-season Tours and today director Tony Asghar, confirming Hibs were not involved or to blame in any way, revealed he'd be conducting a thorough investigation.

He said: "We've dealt with many professional clubs, from Everton to AS Roma. and never had anything like this before. We've used the coach company concerned for years with no problems but clearly the journey from the hotel shouldn't have taken so long.

"Something like a fire alarm at the hotel is obviously outwith anyone's control but we'll be looking into everything to see what happened."

Meanwhile, only a few hundred tickets remain for tonight's match and they will remain on sale until kick-off at 7.45pm.