Reinhold Ranftl isn't dressing this one up. Ahead of Austria Wien's Conference League third qualifying round tie with Beitar Jerusalem, the veteran right-back told ONE that Beitar are, in his own words, "currently a level above us" — and that Austria's domestic season opener matters more to him than the European assignment, which he called "a bonus."

The two clubs have never met in a major UEFA competition before. The first leg is set for August 6, with the return a week later, on August 13, in Vienna. As has become routine for Beitar in Europe, their "home" leg won't be played anywhere near Jerusalem: with Israeli clubs still unable to host continental fixtures on home soil because of the security situation, Beitar will again use their base in Ploiești, Romania.

Both sides arrived here by very different routes. Austria Wien eased past Latvia's FK Liepāja 5-1 on aggregate, wrapping the tie up with a 3-1 win in the second leg. Beitar's path was considerably more nerve-shredding: a 1-0 win away to Cyprus's AEK Larnaca in the first leg was nearly undone by a 3-2 defeat after extra time in the return fixture at Ploiești, squaring the aggregate at 3-3, before Beitar held their composure in the penalty shootout to go through.

That context makes Ranftl's assessment notable rather than mere courtesy. "Right now Beitar are a level above us," the 34-year-old said, according to ONE. "We need to understand that the league opener is more important — Europe is a bonus."

Head coach Stefan Helm struck a more measured tone with the same outlet, pushing back gently on his player's read of the tie. "Beitar are more or less at our level," Helm said. "It's a fair challenge for us, and we'll need to give everything we have to get through."

ONE put a number on the gap in resources: Austria Wien's squad is valued at roughly €23 million against Beitar's approximate €17 million. It's a real but hardly enormous difference for a club with Austria Wien's pedigree — 24 Austrian league titles in their history, even if the most recent came back in 2013, and a fourth-place finish in the Bundesliga last season.

There was a lighter subplot to Austria's build-up in the win over Liepāja. Jonas Feddersen, the 19-year-old defender who joined Austria Wien from Borussia Dortmund's academy this summer, scored on his home debut for the club. "I think I made a good impression," he told ONE. "The fact the ball went in just like that, in my first home match — maybe fate had a hand in it too."

The stakes for both clubs are considerable: the winner advances directly into the Conference League's league phase, a lucrative and prestigious destination neither side will want to let slip in a two-legged tie. For Beitar, playing under new head coach Almog Cohen after his summer promotion from the club's sporting director role, reaching the league phase would be an emphatic marker for his first European campaign in charge.

Whatever Ranftl or Helm believe about the gap between the sides on paper, Beitar have already shown in Cyprus that they can grind out a tie under pressure. Austria Wien, for their part, sound wary enough of that resilience to be talking about giving everything just to survive it.