Lee Johnson asks Hibs players for Euro advice as gaffer admits continent is virgin territory

Lee Johnson admits he’s on a European learning curve where he’ll take any advice going from his Hibs players.

The Englishman has been schooled by the elder statesmen in his side on what to expect in a Europa Conference League second qualifying round tie against Inter Club d’Escaldes. Johnson admits he’s in virgin territory but still expects to come away from Andorra with a victory.

He said: “I’ll have to lean on the experience of the boys in games like this. I’ve had a lot of conversations with the lads who have played in these European games. It’s new to me because as a player I didn’t play in Europe, nor have I managed in it so you can do all the work in the world in terms of studying the opposition but experience is always welcome. I don’t feel like we’re short of it and certainly through speaking to the lads they are quite well versed in European competition.”

The Andorrans knocked out Faroese side Vikingur in the previous round and Johnson insists he’s glad he made the journey to see tonight’s opponents in action. He said: “I’m really looking forward to it; obviously I made the trip to the Faroes which was really worthwhile.

“As much as it was it was a troublesome journey and I missed a couple of days of training, it was a really important factor for myself to feel comfortable and totally assured with what we’re going into, and then articulating that to the players.”

Hibs will face either Djurgardens of Sweden or Luzern of Switzerland in the next round if they successfully navigate past Inter Club and Johnson has named Paul Hanlon as his captain as he replaces keeper David Marshall in the role but the Easter Road boss was at pains to emphasise the former Scotland number one hasn’t been demoted.

He said: “David