Former Aberdeen captain Russell Anderson accepts the odds are stacked against the Dons in the Europa League but does not believe reaching the the group stages should be regarded as an impossible mission.
The Dons have been dumped out of the Europa League in the third qualifying round four years on the trot.
Cypriot side Apollon Limassol proved too strong for Aberdeen last season following similar setbacks against NK Maribor, Kairat Almaty and Real Sociedad during Derek McInnes’s time in charge.
The Dons will discover their opponents for the second qualifying round today and Anderson, part of the Reds side defeated by Real Sociedad in 2014, hopes his former team can make it at least one stage futher to the play-off round this time.
He said: “Unfortunately, they’ve reached the same stage in the last few years and haven’t been able to overcome that hurdle.
“You would like to think that they can progress further. But a lot of it comes down to the draw. You need to be lucky enough to get a reasonable draw and get players in time for the European games, which isn’t easy.
“You’re trying to sign players who have more than one club to choose from and it doesn’t always work to your benefit.
“That would be their target to try to better the last few seasons and at least reach the play-off round.
“The group stages is the ultimate goal.”
The 39-year-old, who retired in 2015, believes Aberdeen have been a victim of their own success over the past few seasons. The Dons finished runners-up to Celtic for the fourth year in a row, while their hopes of Scottish Cup success were ended with a 3-0 defeat by Motherwell at Hampden.
Anderson added: “When you look back, they had another successful season.
“It’s unfortunate that people will define success or failure ultimately by how they do in the cups.
“You sometimes forget that their league performances were really consistent again.
“Unfortunately, they’re a victim of their own success to an extent.
“They reached two cup finals the season before and were so close to winning the Scottish Cup.
“People were always going to compare last season to that one but I was delighted to see them win against Celtic on the final day because it was a good season.”