MIDDLESBROUGH will play to win in their play-off decider tonight – despite the Teessiders only needing a draw to get to Wembley.

Boro have a 2-1 lead over Brentford going into tonight’s second leg at the Riverside, and a draw would be enough to see them reach the final on May 25, but manager Aitor Karanka has vowed that his side will be going for the victory.

“We are one goal up but we have to play thinking it is 0-0,” said Karanka, ahead of tonight’s sell-out fixture.

“We don't know – and they don't know – how to prepare a game to just draw.

“We have to win the game. How can I say to my players that we will draw today?

“In Spain we say that when you look to draw you normally lose.

“We have to go to the pitch thinking that we have to win the game.”

Karanka spent Sunday – a day off for the players – at Yorkshire theme park Flamingo Land with family and friends, and the Spaniard hopes that tonight will not be a rollercoaster ride for Middlesbrough.

“After we won the game, to be with your family and friends, it’s always good,” explained Karanka, who was pictured at the Malton theme park on Twitter on Monday. “When you are with your family and you don’t have a lot of time to spend with them, every single minute is good.

“I needed it, the players also needed the time as well. It was the same when we went to Marbella, it was good to forget everything. Sometimes it is very good to disconnect and to rest.

“But this game is not going to be easy, it’s going to be the opposite. It is going to be a very difficult match. We are making a big mistake if we think it is going to be an easy game. We’ve trained all week thinking it is like a normal game and that we have to win it.

“I was watching the League One play-off this week and that ended 5-5, it was amazing to watch this game, but I prefer our game to be a little bit calmer.”

Karanka, who began his career at Athletic Bilbao before going on to win the Champions League with Real Madrid, never played at Wembley, but admitted that to play at the national stadium was always a dream for him growing up.

“If you like football, Wembley is always in your head,” Karanka said. “When you are a kid you want to play in your city team, and after that you dream to play in the biggest team in Europe, you dream of winning the Champions League, and then you dream that you can win something in Wembley. It’s the main stadium, it means football, and of course I would like to be there one day.

“I didn’t have those dreams as a manager. I dreamt as a kid, and the reality was much better than the dreams, so now, I am starting my career, I’m going step by step and so far I’ve done nothing.”

This is Karanka’s first experience of the play-offs having succeeded Tony Mowbray 18 months ago and, regardless of the result tonight, feels proud to have taken his first club to its highest position since being relegated from the Premier League in 2009.

Speaking of the challenge of the play-offs, Karanka said: “It’s completely different to anything I have done. You look at Swindon v Sheffield United, it was amazing, 5-5.

“Everybody thought the game was finished, but when one team scored the other one scored again, it is amazing, these games.

“I’m very proud to be involved in the play-offs and I want to stay here longer in this job. Every day I’m learning and I’m enjoying this league and this country.”

Karanka has postponed his team selection to give Patrick Bamford the opportunity to prove his fitness. The on-loan Chelsea striker, believed to be on the verge of penning a five-year deal at Stamford Bridge, injured his ankle against Norwich three weeks ago and has not fully recovered yet.

Karanka said: “I don't know, he is in the same way that he was last week, he couldn't train all week so I have to think about it because tonight's game is very important and I have to put all the players who are 100% on the pitch.

“I have to speak with him and do the best thing for the team.

“Normally I know the team two or three days before, but Patrick is a very important player for us and I will think to the last moment. I have to take the right direction.”

MIDDLESBROUGH (probable line-up): Konstantopoulos; Whitehead, Ayala, Gibson, Friend; Clayton, Leadbitter; Adomah, Vossen, Tomlin; Bamford.