Watching other clubs playing in Europe while he sits at home is a scenario which fills Aberdeen defender Shay Logan with dread.
It is also providing him with the motivation to do his part and ensure his club does fly the flag for Scotland in the Europa League qualifiers in July.
The Dons are neck and neck with Kilmarnock as the race for third place reaches its conclusion and with two games left the Dons must better Killie’s results if they are to pip Steve Clarke’s side to third place.
Killie lead Aberdeen due to their better goal difference and while fourth place would be enough to secure Europe should Celtic complete the treble-treble by beating Hearts in the Scottish Cup final in two weeks’ time Logan is not willing to leave anything to chance.
He said: “Europe has become the norm now. Since I’ve been here we missed out the first year but since then we’ve made it every year and as a player you want to play the Burnleys and wherever you go.
“You get to visit different countries and it’s something the fans definitely want. They get that away trip too and we don’t want to miss out this summer.
“It’s also about finishing as high up the table as we can. We had some bad results this year which has stopped us from cementing third place already which is why it’s important we win these last two games and we’ll see where it takes us.
“We can’t look for Celtic to do us a favour as they will be in a difficult game in the cup final against Hearts. They are a good side and have already beaten Celtic this season. We want to finish third ourselves.
“We’ve lost games where we didn’t deserve to lose and others we haven’t performed, but we can’t focus on that now.
“We just have to focus on our last home game against a strong Hearts them then away to Hibernian next week where hopefully we are still pushing third spot.”
Logan has exceeded expectations in being able to return in time to play a part in his club’s late push for third place after being ruled out for the rest of the season with an ankle injury in the Scottish Cup win against Queen of the South in February.
Having made his return to first-team duty last week in the 3-0 loss to Celtic Logan is thrilled to be back involved and hopes he can help his side secure a vital win against Hearts at Pittodrie tonight.
He said: “It’s great, tremendous to be playing football again. I’m not a great spectator.
“My aim was to get back as I had been told I wouldn’t make any games this season. In my head I wanted to play and go into the summer feeling fit again. I knew I was always going to get back.
“Celtic was the game I wanted to be back for but it was tough as I only joined the team for training on Thursday.
“I only managed two days with the team as I had been working with the physios and my first 11-a-side game was Saturday when I had Odsonne Edouard and Timothy Weah running at me.”