Mark Stafford knows the prize that is up for grabs as Linfield take on Qarabag in Azerbaijan today (Thursday).

Former Mallard captain Stafford netted for the Blues as they secured a 3-2 first leg win at Windsor Park but he knows the size of the task they face if they are to make history and progress through to the Europa League Group stages.

“It’s a massive game for us, the biggest game of my career,” said Stafford. “They are a really good side, they showed that in the opening 20 minutes of the game in Windsor and we know it is going to be tough but we will be aiming to produce the same type of performance as we did last week and see where that takes us.”

A win could see Linfield set up games against the likes of Manchester United and Stafford says that the players know exactly what is at stake.

“It is a huge prize for the winner so it makes the game even bigger as you know what is at stake. It would be making history for the club and you could get some of the European greats in the groups stages which would be immense. And that is not even taking into consideration the financial bonus getting that far would be to the club,” he said.

However, Stafford is not going to get too carried away with things with the whole focus solely on this big clash against Qarabag.

“We can’t get too far ahead of ourselves because of the task we have ahead of us. It is going to take a massive performance so this is all we are concentrating on and hopefully we can go out and get a performance,” he added.