Read our pre-match preview as The Dons and Burnley do battle for a place in the Europa League Third Qualifying Round. 

The Dons make the trip to England to face Burnley in the second leg of their Europa League Second Round Qualifier. A packed out Pittodrie witnessed a 1-1 draw in the first tie, with The Clarets scoring late on to grab crucial away goal, but Aberdeen proved they were more than a match for the Premier League side and will take confidence from Thursday’s performance.

The Red Army have backed their side superbly once again and away tickets for the trip to Turf Moor were snapped up early with over 2,000 supporters travelling down via trains, planes and automobiles.

For Burnley the occasion is one of historic significance as the club play their first home European tie in 51 years after qualifying for Europe through their seventh-place finish in the English Premier League last season.

After Thursday’s match at Pittodrie Sean Dyche spoke to the media and was full of praise for The Dons and supporters.

SEAN DYCHE

“On reflection for the whole game I think we maybe edged it as we created enough, but I’m not taking away anything from an Aberdeen side that certainly made it a proper game. The atmosphere was amazing and both fans were excellent. It felt like a real game so absolute credit to Aberdeen for that.

“Aberdeen were hard working, organised and the goal changed the game. When they scored they were in a strange predicament because they are thinking if they should go take it on or try and contain and I think they were trying to do both and break. I thought they delivered a good performance. For my first experience I thought it was a proper game despite it being pre-season.”

The Dons manager spoke to the media on Wednesday at Turf Moor ahead of the second leg.

WHAT DEREK MCINNES SAID

I’ve always found in Europe against the better teams and Burnley are up there with anything we’ve played in Europe, you normally need two strong performances. One is normally not enough. I felt before the game that we had to score here to probably get through the tie and that’s where we are. Burnley were favourites prior to the game, which I totally understand and with their away goal last week it puts them in the box seat. The onus is on us to score and change that, but I’m confident that we can do that. We’ve had some good results on the road in Europe and domestically we’re always strong and we always believe we can score.

“You take confidence from any positive experiences. Whether that’s winning in Europe previously or winning cups or winning at Ibrox and Celtic Park you just harness the experiences. It can not just lift the profile of the club, but lift the confidence of a player. We’ve got it, all to do and we’ve got a tie to try and win. Winning here against a Premier League team on their home patch is a difficult task, but it’s one we feel we can do.”

Europe is important to us and we don’t want this game to be the only one this season so it’s important we try all we can. The players fed off the crowd last week and the crowd were fantastic and hopefully we can have something here even though they’ll be in a minority they’ll make themselves heard.”

Memorable Away Trips In Europe

This will be the twelfth away trip for The Dons under the McInnes regime in Europe and his sides have often saved their best performances and results for the away leg. Back in 2014, The Dons travelled to Riga in Latvia for the return leg of the First Qualifying Round against Daugava Riga with the tie effectively in the bag after a convincing 5-0 win at Pittodrie. Adam Rooney’s first half hat trick in Latvia meant The Dons were flying through to the next round.

The Dons were paired with Dutch side, Groningen and a 0-0 draw at Pittodrie set up a tasty affair in the Netherlands. Aberdeen had been written off by many before a ball had been kicked, but were fantastic on the night and Adam Rooney and Niall McGinn’s first half goals sent the Red Army into raptures. The second half required a resolute defensive display from the men in red and they were able to keep the hosts at bay, winning 2-1 on the night.

Unfortunately for The Dons, their adventure was ended the following round as the Spanish outfit, Real Sociedad proved to be a step to far. A 2-0 loss in San Sebastian had The Dons against it and despite a valiant performance back home, they went down 5-2 on aggregate.

The following season the European adventure would take The Dons to Macedonia, Croatia and Kazakhstan. An opening 1-1 draw against KF Shkëndija was a decent result, but the Macedonians proved a difficult opponent in the return leg and The Dons held out for a 0-0 draw to advance.

The following week Derek McInnes’s men put on one of the best ever displays in Europe from an Aberdeen side when the faced Croatian side, HNK Rijeka. The hosts had turned their unique looking stadium into a fortress and earned decent results against Sevilla and Feyenoord the previous season. Despite early pressure in the first half, The Dons opened the scoring through the head of Andy Considine and in the second half Aberdeen were outstanding with goals from Peter Pawlett and Kenny McLean giving the reds a commanding lead flying back to Scotland. Despite a fightback at Pittodrie from Rijeka, The Dons were able to see out the tie and thus recorded another famous European night. To put Aberdeen’s win at the Stadion Kantrida into perspective, Rijeka would not lose at home game for the next two seasons.

In European qualification the games come thick and fast and The Dons were once again getting the air miles as a trip to Kazakhstan was next up. It was the longest round trip any club would make in the Europa League that season and a 2-1 defeat gave reasons for optimism. Despite dominating for long spells in the second leg at Pittodrie, The Dons fell just short in a 1-1 draw.  

Last season brought new challenges as the Dons management team were forced into revamping the squad after a number of key departures. The first task was overcoming Bosnian side, Siroki Brijeg. A 1-1 draw at Pittodrie meant Aberdeen had to score on the continent. Despite the searing heat, The Dons looked the much fitter side and controlled the game. New boys Gary Mackay-Steven and Greg Stewart combined to earn a 2-0 win much to the delight of the travelling Red Army behind the goal.

Supporter Information

Enjoy the game and COME ON YOU REDS!