Joe Lewis has played in cup finals for Aberdeen but the Dons club captain believes tonight’s European Conference League playoff is as close to a Hampden showpiece you will get.
With £2.5million on offer to the team which progresses from the Pittodrie tie between the Dons and Qarabag of Azerbaijan, the stakes have not been lost on the Aberdeen goalkeeper.
The money would put a smile on chairman Dave Cormack’s face. The prestige of playing in the group stages of the inaugural tournament is what the players and manager Stephen Glass crave.
Lewis said: “I’ve played in cup finals with the club and they’re huge games. As players, and for supporters too, you want to lift trophies.
“This game won’t bring you a trophy but it brings you a lot of other rewards, such as financial ones and the opportunity to play on a big stage.
“It’s very hard to gauge in terms of how you’d measure it against a cup final, but a cup final as a one off is what you want as a player. It’s certainly up there alongside it.
“It would be fantastic (to qualify). From a players’ point of view, you’ve got another six games guaranteed, big games, three at home, so they would be great occasions for the supporters as well.
“Hopefully, restrictions depending, fans would be able to go to away games as well because I know a lot of supporters love doing that.
“Financially, it’s worth a massive amount to the club. Coming out of a pandemic, I’m sure those funds would be greatly received by the club and we’d look to build with that.”
Aberdeen’s one and only participation in the group stages of European football came in the UEFA Cup in 2007-08, where Jimmy Calderwood’s side qualified for the last 32 of the tournament before being eliminated by Bayern Munich.
There have been several attempts in the years which have followed but tonight’s tie is the closest the Dons have come.
Lewis said: “We’ve not qualified for the group stages in a lot of years. The opportunity to get there and get the Aberdeen name back in the minds of European football and European oppositions is a fantastic one.
“We want to do that as players and we’re one game away. We need to win the game, we know, but we approach the game the way we would any other, to win. It’s not going to be drastically different.”
Qarabag lead 1-0 from the first leg in Baku last week. Lewis is impressed by the qualities of the opposition but insists his focus is on what he and his team-mates do in front of their own supporters tonight.
He said: “They’re a good team, we know that. But we’ve played against good teams over the last two rounds.
“We know they have really good quality but we don’t want to dwell too much on them. We have looked at them but you don’t want to get too wrapped up on the strength of the opposition.
“We like to think we’ve got a few things that can worry them, hopefully.”
Aberdeen’s bid to qualify for the group stage will go ahead without Andy Considine, the sole survivor of the 2007-08 campaign.
The defender is recovering from surgery to repair a cruciate ligament injury suffered in the first leg and Lewis would love nothing more than to put a smile on his team-mate’s face by ensuring his efforts have not been in vain.
The goalkeeper said: “Andy has been fantastic for us for a very long time now.
“There is disappointment for him personally and for the team. It’s clearly a blow but Ross (McCrorie) and Declan (Gallagher) are more than capable of filling that void. We need to move on with it because there is nothing we can do.
“But Andy is the type of guy who will come back stronger.
“Any long-term injury is a physical and mental battle. He’s had injuries before, luckily not anything like this. But he’s a strong boy mentally and physically.
“I’ve spoken to him about (the 2007-08 European run) before and he said it was a fantastic experience. That team got through to the last 32 as well. He spoke about that, too.
“Anyone who spends time with Andy loves to pick his brains and his experience, especially the younger boys. He’s one who can pass on that experience.
“He’ll be cheering us on as much as anyone.
“While he won’t make the game, I’m sure he’ll be watching it on his computer or telly. He’ll be supporting us 100 per cent.”