The confidence gained from his increased responsibility with the Socceroos has Eintracht Frankfurt midfielder Ajdin Hrustic ready for this week's Europa League final.
Frankfurt will play their first European final in 42 years when they face Scottish giants Rangers on Wednesday (Thursday 0500 AEST), with Hrustic eager to extend a journey which included toppling Barcelona and West Ham.
Hrustic has featured regularly off the bench during Frankfurt's run to the final, at the same time as he has emerged as a key player in Graham Arnold's Australia squad.
Having debuted for the Socceroos in 2017, Hrustic has featured in 15 games during Australia's qualifying campaign for this year's World Cup in Qatar.
That emergence has had an impact for Hrustic in Germany, saying he can't help but benefit from Arnold's belief.
"Of course it does. When someone does believe in me and when I do get a kind of responsibility, I would say it does mean a lot and it gains a player's confidence," Hrustic told AAP.
"It doesn't matter who it is. If you play football and you have confidence, then you'll always feel great."
Boosting Hrustic and his teammates as well is the phenomenal support they are getting from the entire city of Frankfurt.
About 30,000 Eintracht fans converged on Barcelona for their team's quarter-final second leg at the Camp Nou while 10,000 are reported to have travelled to London for the semi-final first leg against West Ham despite the Hammers only making 3000 tickets available to away fans.
"It's slowly starting to kick in," Hrustic said.
"I've even seen some stores are going to be closing up because of the game.
"I've heard also that there's going to be the game streamed live in Frankfurt for the people who can't get tickets to travel to see us, so it's going to be something big.
"The whole city is behind us, that's the feeling that we've got and we believe.
"It also feels like you've got the whole of Germany behind you.
"It's a big moment for all of us and also for the club.
"Winning the Europa League means Champions League football next season, which is also another massive achievement."
Australian Associated Press
