A warm welcome, in more ways than one, awaits the Dons in Cyprus this week as they try to overcome Apollon Limassol and book their place in the play-off round of the Europa League.
Captain Graeme Shinnie’s goal has given the Dons a 2-1 lead heading into the second leg which will be played on Thursday at AEK Arena in Larnaca.
Despite the match being moved as Limassol’s stadium, the 13,300-capacity Tsirio Stadium, does not meet Uefa criteria the club’s supporters have rallied to the cause, selling out the 7,400 capacity stadium in anticipation of a great night against Aberdeen.
Exiting at this stage would be a blow to Limassol, who played in the group stages in 2014-15 and their cosmopolitan line-up has been compiled with European football in mind. Charalampos Kyriakou was the only Cypriot player in the team at Pittodrie with the rest of the players hailing from Portugal, Argentina, Brazil, France, Malta, Spain and Croatia.
History is against the home side as no team from Cyprus has managed to beat a Scottish club in the history of European competition, but Limassol are confident.
The team flew back to Cyprus on Friday, but before they had returned home the rallying cry had been made.
In a passionate plea on their website, Limassol urged: “Let’s turn the Arena into a furnace. With the help of the fans, we can qualify.
“They can make all the difference. In Scotland, Aberdeen’s fans helped them, now it’s our turn. We want you, the fans, to get there early and provide an extremely hot atmosphere that will become our extra man.
“With the fans on our side, we can win the tie.”
Limassol head coach Sofronis Avgousti is in no doubt about what he wants from his team and his club’s supporters.
He said: “From the first minute we want the supporters to put pressure on Aberdeen and push us on to get through to the next round.
“We saw how much pressure Aberdeen’s players put on us and how much their supporters got behind them.
“That’s what we want our supporters to bring.
“We need them to come to support us as we try to qualify for the next phase.”
Apollon Limassol know the stakes are high for this one but it seems the Cypriot media is fearful their team may have left itself with too much to do. Cypriot newspaper, The Reporter, believes head coach Avgousti must implement a plan B for when influential midfielder Alex is nullified.
The Brazilian was hooked at half time at Pittodrie in Thursday’s first leg and the newspaper accused the team of panicking when the Dons pressed them and questioned whether club officials had done its homework properly on the Dons.
They carried an opinion piece on Limassol’s defeat and it did not make for pleasant reading: “Limassol cannot be so dependent on Alex. The Brazilian was poor in the first half and that’s why he stayed in the changing room at half time.
“Avgousti has options this season to remove the Brazilian when he is not reaching the desired levels of performance.
“Antonio Jakolis has only had a few training sessions with the team but he helped immensely to calm the game, which Alex did not do in the first half.”
Certainly, the absence of Esteban Sachetti, who was sent off for two crude challenges on Greg Stewart and Ryan Christie in the first leg, is a concern for the Cypriots.
The defender is not exactly flavour of the month after his red card gave the Dons the chance to regain the initiative for Shinnie’s winning goal.
The Reporter questioned whether Sachetti’s actions would cost the team the chance of progression.
“Sachetti is a good player, but his excessive passion is costing the team too many times.
“The Argentinian avoided dismissal for a tough foul in the first half but he was reckless with his elbow in the second half when already on a yellow card and he left Apollon with a player less.
“At a time whe n the momentum was in favour of the Cypriot team the Argentine was eliminated and the balance of the match swung again.
“He did the same at Grasshoppers last season and it punished his team.”
There must be a feeling of deja vu for Sachetti, who was sent off in the 2-1 defeat at the Swiss club in the third qualifying round first leg a year ago.
Following his red card Grasshoppers scored an added-time winner and his suspension proved costly as his side exited the competition following a 3-3 draw at home in the second leg.
The Dons will hope their opponents are left to rue his absence again if they are to record another famous win on their continental travels.