Aberdeen F.C. in Europe

Early Lessons

Aberdeen played their first official match in competitive European football in early September, 1967. This was a European Cup Winners' Cup first round game against KR Reykjavik of Iceland. The match ended in a 10-0 thrashing home victory for Aberdeen in front of packed Pittodrie. This 10-0 debut result for Aberdeen on the European stage had bettered Dundee's 8-1 Scottish record drubbing of Cologne a few seasons previous.

However things could have been so much different for the Dons had they been granted their rightful place in the inaugral European Cup in 1955 as the Scottish League Champions. However Hibernian were elected for the championship instead.

Aberdeen were regular competitors in Europe during the late 1960s and all throughout the 1970s, however the team very rarely reached the latter stages of a European event. In fact it took Aberdeen 14 years of European football to reach the Third Round of a major event, this being against SV Hamburg in the UEFA Cup of season 1981-82.

Aberdeen had the distinction of being the very first team to be knocked out of a European competition on the football lottery of penalty kicks during the first round of the European Cup Winners' Cup of 1970-71, when after a thrilling 4-4 two legged aggregate scoreline against Hungarian outfit Honvéd, the match had gone all the way to penalties, the very first time this had happened in European football. Aberdeen were the losers on the night by 5 kicks to 4 in Budapest.

When Aberdeen played in Europe, chances were it was going to be against a big team from the continent, and very rarely did this not happen. during the following years in Aberdeens European runs they faced the might of teams such as Juventus, the mighty Borussia Mönchengladbach and the then dominant Liverpool. On each of these occasions the Dons came out on fairly convincing defeats, but this was all a learning curb for tiny Aberdeen, and the crowning moment was soon to come when the Dons had put all the lessons taught by the giants of the European stage, into good use.

It wasn't until season 1980-81 that Aberdeen finally made their breakthrough onto the biggest stage of them all, the European Cup. Aberdeen had dominated their league the season previous with the appointment of Sir Alex Ferguson as their manager and a rejuvenated young squad full of talent and flair, and most importantly a passion to win and produce big upsets on the day.

That was exactly what had happened when Aberdeen were drawn against a very young and very experienced Austria Memphis in the opening round of the European Cup campaign. Aberdeen had ground out a result at home winning by the narrowest of margins, and were full of confidence heading to Austria for the return leg. Aberdeen didn't disappoint the legions of Red Army supporters who had made their journey to follow their beloved team. Aberdeen were on the backfoot for most of the return leg, rarely advancing into the opponents half throughout the 90 minutes, but this team were built on a solid back line of Willie Miller and a young Alex McLeish with the final result on the day, a 0-0 shut-out. Aberdeen had done the near impossible by knocking Austria Memphis off their perch as a leading force in Europe in those days and advanced to round 2 where the draw had yet again sprung on the Dons a giant, the daunting task of Liverpool. The run would end in the next round when the dons were out played and eventually losing the two legged affair by 5 goals to 0. Aberdeen took this as another big lesson to learn, but the most memorable of adventures was now only 2 seasons away...

Aberdeen had produced an upset the next year in the UEFA Cup of 1981-82 by knocking out defending champions Ipswich Town in the opening round before going on to lose in the third round to future European Champions SV Hamburg.

The lessons had now been learnt and the time to shine was now upon the Dons, the season was 1982-83, and Aberdeen had qualified for the European Cup Winners' Cup a competition Aberdeen had never really done all that well in previously. But all that was soon about to change.

History In The Making

Aberdeen entered the European Cup Winners' Cup of 1983 in the Qualifying stages due to Scotland's ranking in Europe being relatively low at that time. However this did not hinder the Dons as they got off to the best possible start against FC Sion of Switzerland. Aberdeen had all but sealed the tie in the first leg at Pittodrie with a crushing 7-0 victory of the Swiss side. This was Aberdeen's second biggest result in Europe of all time, and in the second leg Aberdeen wasted no time in sending a frightening message to the rest of the clubs competing for the prestigious European Cup Winners' Cup, with a 4-1 victory in Switzerland. FC Sion had been destroyed by Aberdeen 11-1 on Aggregate.

This set up a tough tie in the opening round against unknown Dinamo Tirana from Albania. The first leg was close all the way with John Hewitt, a name that is famous to all Aberdeen fans for what he achieved later on the in tournament, getting the only goal of the game, and what turned out to be the only goal of the tie, as Aberdeen's first trip to Albania ended in a rather dull 0-0 shut-out. however that was enough to see Aberdeen yet again go marching on to the next round, with a hard earned 1-0 Aggregate victory.

In the second round Lech Poznań became Aberdeen's opponents. The team from Poland were not household names across the Continent, but were regarded as a good side and Aberdeen had to be cautious against them. In the first leg it was surprisingly straight-forward with the Dandies coming out of it with a good 2-0 victory. This result seemed to be built on an air of confidence around the hugely faithful Red Army, and a few started to believe that this team was on to something quite spectacular. Their visions of glory were not halted in the return leg in Poland with Aberdeen grinding out a well earned and yet again hard fought 1-0 victory. The Aggregate score-line was 3-0 and this had earned Aberdeen a passage to the Quarter-Finals of Europe for the very first time in the club's history, and arguably the biggest game in the clubs history, against a certain team from Germany.

The task was daunting to say the least, but the belief was there, if Aberdeen could somehow negotiate a way past the might and incredible team skill and power of the mighty Bayern München, then Aberdeen could win the tournament. This was the belief of the fans and everyone involved with the Dons, especially Sir Alex Ferguson. In the first leg the Dons had defended for their lives being hit by a constant barrage of German attacks, but Jim Leighton was in fine form not letting anything past him. The game had finished 0-0, and the amazement that Aberdeen FC had kept the game alive going into the second leg had stunned not only Aberdeen fans, but the whole of the United Kingdom, who at this point were right behind the Dons. The day before the second leg was a relatively bright one, but just before th kick-off the weather showed no mercy as a torrential rain storm had doused the North East in rain and high winds. Despite the awful weather the game was a thriller to say the least. Bayern Munich had taken the lead in the first half, but right on the stroke of half time Neil Simpson had thundered a shot past the German goalie to make it 1-1 with 45 minutes still left to play. The Dons were full of confidence knowing that their defence could hold out against the Germans if they could find another goal from somewhere, and the Dons also knew that they had to score or they would be eliminated by the away goal rule. With 14 minutes remaining, Bayern Munich regained the lead through a phenomenal volley from the edge of the box. The task was now more daunting than ever. Aberdeen had to find 2 goals in the space of 14 minutes or the dream would be all over. Aberdeen had a free-kick with only minutes remaining on the clock. It was in a promising position with John McMaster and Gordon Strachan hovering over the ball. They both ran right past the ball, making the Germans believe they had mistimed it but before the Germans had time to regain composure, Gordon Strachan turned and quickly floated the ball into the box which was met by the tall presence of Alex McLeish. The ball hit the goalkeepers glove but he could do nothing to keep it out. The Dons had equalised and it was 2-2. Literally seconds later Pittodrie witnessed its most defining moment. Straight from the kick-off, the ball was lofted straight up the park and into the Bayern Munich penalty area. John Hewitt managed to latch onto the ball, but many fans turned away in horror as he slipped when connecting with the ball, but it was to be sheer Dons delight as the ball nut-megged the German giant. Aberdeen had done the impossible, with 12 minutes remaining on the clock Aberdeen were 3-2 in front! The final whistle blew 12 agonising minutes later. Aberdeen had tamed the mighty Bayern Munich and sent them crashing out of Europe The aggregate scoreline read 3-2 in favour of Aberdeen FC. This was the greatest match ever played at Pittodrie. A European Semi-Final now awaited the Dons who were now making a huge reputation for themselves on the Continent.

In the Semi-Final Aberdeen had been drawn against another team who had shocked Europe on their travels, Waterschei. The Belgian outfit seemed to be doing an 'Aberdeen' in Europe knocking out big teams on their route to a European Semi-Final, but this team had more experience than the Dons. Any fear of a shock result was thrown well and truly out of the window as Aberdeen, on another fine night at Pittodrie in the opening leg completely destroyed the Belgians managing to rack up a fantastic scoreline of 5-1 heading into the second leg. Many fans after the home game had started to make arrangements for the final, never before had Aberdeen surrendered a 4 goal lead in Europe, and the fans knew their team was about to make history. In the second leg in Belgium Aberdeen struggled to make any impact and lost the game 1-0, however none of the travelling Dons fans cared. Their team had reached the holy grail, a final, but not just any final, a European Cup Winners Cup Final! But the best was yet to come...

Aberdeen were quickly becoming the talking point of Europe, never before had Aberdeen reached this stage of a European event, and Sir Alex Ferguson's men had well and truly put tiny Aberdeen on the map. The occasion was the Ullevi Stadium in Gothenburg, the date was 11 May 1983, a date that has become etched into the hearts of every Aberdeen FC fan across the globe. But most importantly the team Aberdeen had to overcome, the last remaining giant of the tournament, and the clear favourites from day one of the campaign were none other than the biggest team in World Football at the time, the Spanish giants, Real Madrid Before the final the club released a song, 'The European Song', to coincide with the appearance in the Final. During the day before the final the Aberdeen fans had been pouring into Sweden, albeit by sea and by air. They had been terrific throughout the European run and did not disappoint in the final. Every single fan was well behaved and mixed well with the locals who were fast becoming taken in by Aberdeen FC and the legions of the Red Army. During the run up to kick-off, just like their Quarter-Final win over Bayern Munich at Pittodrie, the rain came thundering down and made the pitch very wet and dangerous to play on, but this did not halt the Dons who made a great start by taking the lead against Real Madrid through Eric Black, who, with the help of the bottom of the post, thundered the ball past the Spanish goalkeeper. Aberdeen were 1-0 up against Real Madrid! Sheer joy turned to heartache later in the first half when a poor back pass by Alex Mcleish left Real's forward one-on-one with Jim Leighton. He took the ball past Leighton who brought him down for a penalty. The penalty was easily converted and Real had equalised, it was 1-1 at half time. Aberdeen well and truly dominated the second half, but with chance after chance after chance going begging, it was getting edgy. The teams could not be separated after 90 minutes. it had ended 1-1, and the game was forced into extra time. Aberdeen quickly picked up where they left off, and it took until 10 minutes from the end of extra time for John Hewitt to score Aberdeen's most famous of goals. An inswinger from the far left of the field had left the Spanish goalkeeper rooted to his line. As it swung in, every Aberdeen fan who had the great fortune to watch the game were rising off their seats when they saw that it was John Hewitt who was clearly going to get to the ball, sheer nervous tension turned to phenomenal scenes of celebration as the ball hit john Hewitt on the head as he dived for it, and flew into the back of the net. With a little over 10 minutes remaining, Aberdeen led the mighty Spaniards Real Madrid 2-1! The Spaniards could not recover and the whistle blew. It was done. Aberdeen had beaten Real Madrid 2-1, becoming only the third team in Scottish football history to win on the European stage. Joining the likes of Celtic in 1967, and Rangers in 1972, now it was Aberdeen in 1983. This was followed up with the capture of the European Super Cup in December of that year, when SV Hamburg, the reigning European Cup Champions were beaten 2-0 over two legs thanks to goals by Neil Simpson and Mark McGhee at Pittodrie.

Aberdeen FC to this day are the last club from Scotland to have tasted success in Europe and the only club from Scotland to have won two European trophies.

Aberdeen FC, the team of teams, with the hearts of true Scottish lions are truly magic!

Aberdeen's History in Europe

Footnotes

* ¹ - After a 4-4 draw with Hungarian side Honvéd, over two legs, Aberdeen became the first European club in history to be knocked out on penalty kicks. [citeweb|url=http://www.afc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/forcereg/dons/0,,10284,00.html? |title=European Pedigree - Dons in Europe |publisher=Aberdeen F.C. |accessdate=2008-04-01 ]