(Reuters) - Burnley's focus will be on progression in the Europa League, midfielder Jack Cork has said as the Premier League club prepare to return to European competition for the first time in 51 years.
The 29-year-old Cork did not miss a minute of Burnley's 38-game league campaign last season and played a pivotal role as the club finished seventh to seal a Europa League spot.
"We'd like to get as far in the European competition as possible," Cork said on the club's website https://www.burnleyfootballclub.com/news/2018/july/more-the-merrier-for-cork.
"The focus is on the European games, to try and get a few wins in that and try to get to the group stage of that. That would probably be the main aim and, like we did last year, try and get off to a good start to the season.
"It will be a bit strange maybe being a few games into the season before actually starting the (Premier League) season so it will be interesting to see how everyone deals with that."
Manager Sean Dyche's team will take on Scottish club Aberdeen in their Europa League third qualifying round tie on July 26 in what will be their first appearance at a European competition since the 1966-67 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup.
"We just have to focus on the Aberdeen game first," Cork said. "That's not going to be an easy game at all. They are a good team and we've got to get through that."
(Reporting by Anirban Paul in Bengaluru; editing by Sudipto Ganguly)