In recent years Aberdeen supporters have been accustomed to European football. There have been some memorable performances since the current management team took over, but back in 2007 the club had not locked horns with Europe’s elite in quite some time.

In 2006-07 under Jimmy Calderwood Aberdeen finished third in the league after a tremendous season, culminating in a 2-0 win over Rangers on the final day of the campaign which secured European qualification.

The 2007-08 season will be remembered in the AFC history books for it’s incredible highs and lows. What the club achieved that year though should not be forgotten as the Dons players rubbed shoulders with some of the world’s best. It was one night in Ukraine though that will rank up there as one of Aberdeen’s finest European away performances….

After a solid performance in the first-leg at Pittodrie the Dons went over to Dnipro with the knowledge that an away goal could be so crucial to progression in the competition. The sides played out a 0-0 in Scotland and the fans went over to Ukraine with hope rather than expectation.

It took a Darren Mackie header in the 27^th minute to make the fans believe and the Dons put in one of their finest performances in years. Despite a second half “backs against the wall” job, The Dons held firm with goalkeeper Jamie Langfield producing arguably his best performance in an Aberdeen shirt. Dnipro would score in the second half to get the hearts racing at an even higher pace, but Calderwood’s men held on for a famous draw and it prompted BBC commentator that evening, Paul Mitchell to finish with “In the Meteor Stadium Aberdeen have been out of this world.”

It was the first time in their illustrious history that Aberdeen had advanced to the next round of European competition via away goals and what awaited the side was the UEFA Cup Group Stages, where they would compete with yet more famous names of European football.

Just to show how difficult a night it was for the men in red, here's some stats from the match.
 

On RedTV now you can re-live the nerve shredding 90 minutes in full, watch the match highlights and here the reaction from Jimmy Calderwood & goalscorer Darren Mackie. You can also watch back the 'Dnipro Diary' from the original RedTV with some behind the scenes footage of the trip!

To watch all that and more please click here!

Here's some photographs, some of which have never been seen before, as well as the match report from that night in Ukraine.

Gallery | pre match
Gallery | the game
Gallery | post match
Match Report