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Ryan Christie: Dons aren’t going to Cyprus just to park the bus

Ryan Christie scored for the Dons in the first leg against Apollon Limassol.
Ryan Christie scored for the Dons in the first leg against Apollon Limassol.

Aberdeen attacking midfielder Ryan Christie says there is absolutely no chance the Dons will try to progress against Apollon Limassol by parking the bus.

The Dons take a slender 2-1 lead to Cyprus for tomorrow’s second leg at the AEK Arena in Larnaca.

A 0-0 draw will be enough for Derek McInnes’ side to make it through to the Europa League play-off round – the final stage of qualification for the lucrative group stages.

It is a completely different scenario when Aberdeen went to Siroki Brijeg for the second leg knowing they had to score after drawing 1-1 at Pittodrie with the Dons eventually progressing 3-1 on aggregate.

But on loan Celtic midfielder Christie, who opened the scoring at Pittodrie last week, reckons an ultra-defensive approach would play into the hands of the Cypriots.

He said: “It’s different from Bosnia. When we went out there, we knew we had to score and it gives us more confidence this time knowing we are going over to Cyprus with a lead.

“It’s up to them to take the game to us because they need to get on the scoresheet.

“Don’t get me wrong, we are not going to sit back and let them attack, attack, attack. We have more than enough quality going forward to go and punish them on the counter-attack and we will go and try to dominate the game.”

Christie relished the atmosphere created at Pittodrie by the 20,085 crowd with Graeme Shinnie’s sumptuous 25-yard strike winning the match for the Dons, while Limassol ended the match with 10 players after Argentine defensive midfielder Esteban Sachetti was dismissed.

He said: “There was an incredible atmosphere at Pittodrie, but when you are playing in it, you don’t really take it in.

“It’s only when you look back and think I want that atmosphere again.

“So to get it again we have to get through in Cyprus and then we go to try and win in the play-offs, which would get us to the group stages.

“It would be great to do that.”

Christie also believes the Dons are learning a huge amount from their experience of European football this season as they bid to go one stage further after falling at the Europa League’s third qualifying round for the past three successive seasons.

He added: “The last tie against the Bosnians was very tactical.

“We had to wait until 70-odd minutes until we got the breakthrough and that was credit to us. In terms of the Scottish game, there are more tackles flying in and it’s not like that so much in European football.

“I thought we handled it well and hopefully we can do the business in the second leg and make our mark in European football.”​