Before the team flew out to Baku, Jay Emmanuel-Thomas spoke to the media at Cormack Park to look ahead to the game with Qarabağ FK. To watch in full on RedTV, please press on the red button.

“It was a great feeling to score my first goal for Aberdeen. It was a disappointing result, but we have a game on Thursday where we can look to put things right.

“There is a lot more to come from me. We are only six games in. There has been a lot of travelling, and different strategies and how we are going to play in each game. There is a lot more to come from the team as a whole. There are players who haven’t had the opportunity to showcase the abilities that we have seen on a day-to-day basis in training. There is a lot more to come, it is still early days, and we still have a long season ahead of us.

“Everybody has had a look to see what they are about, and I am sure they have done the same for us. It is a home and away tie to see who will come out victorious. There will be a lot of preparation from both sides. We are looking to go the distance and make it to the group stage. We need to focus on what we are bringing to the table, what our strengths are and hopefully we can impact it on them.

“We would love to go there and take the tie back to Pittodrie with a win. That would be our first aim, but the worst-case scenario is we come home with a draw, obviously losing isn’t an agenda. We are looking to go there with the most positive mindset possible.

“You can only dwell on defeats for so long. With the busy schedule that we have, if you keep that negative energy around you for too long, it can start to spread around the building. We have spoken about the game, but it is about moving forward to what is coming next. You can’t have too much negative thoughts on something you cannot change. We move onto Thursday and hopefully we can turn it around.

“It will be a great feeling for the football club to reach the group stage. We know there is a great possibility of doing it as long as we provide the performances that are needed. We have had a great run so far; we have two more hurdles to get over and we are hoping we can do that.

“If it is a bad pitch then it is a bad pitch for both teams. We don’t know what kind of surfaces that they are used to playing on. We have a great surface at Pittodrie. It is out of our control and something we will have to deal with when we get there.

“Everybody’s preparation is different. We don’t know what their pre-season has been like, but they have had limited games, the same as us, it is something that we will look into. We look forward to going there, picking up the result and them having to come back here.

“It has been a frantic start to the season, we have had a lot of games in a short space of time. It is a positive thing, and it is good to be involved in numerous games.

“Playing in Europe is a key thing to a lot of the players. For me it will be a great achievement to reach the group stage, it is something as players and staff we are looking to make happen to the best of our abilities.

“It has been a great start at Aberdeen, I have got a warm welcome from everyone at the club. I like to interact when I can with the fans. We have had a good start to the season, and it looks like we will have a positive year ahead of us all. We are just hoping to keep it going.”