Aberdeen defender Mats Knoester aims to make it an unhappy reunion for former team-mate Cyriel Dessers when Rangers come to Pittodrie.
Knoester played alongside Rangers striker Dessers at Dutch club Heracles during the 2019-20 campaign.
Nigerian international striker Dessers finished joint top goal-scorer in the Dutch top flight that season to earn a move from Heracles to Belgian side Genk.
Dessers has netted more than 20 goals for Rangers in all competitions this season.
The Dons will bid to win back-to-back league games against Rangers at Pittodrie for the first time since February 2006.
January signing Knoester reckons nullifying the threat of Dessers will be key to the bid to overcome the Ibrox club.
Knoester will also come up against another former team-mate on Sunday, Rangers defender Robin Pröpper who he also played alongside at Heracles.
The need to nullify Dessers’ threat
Knoester was not at Pittodrie when Aberdeen won 2-1 against Rangers in the Granite City on October 30 last year.
Bolstered by a January transfer window signing spree by boss Jimmy Thelin the Dons have rediscovered their form to reignite the bid to finish third.
Aberdeen have won their last two league matches having bounced back from a 14 game Premiership winless run during winter.
Knoester aims to maintain that winning momentum when he lines up against his former team-mates.
He said: “I played with Cyriel and Robin at Heracles
“I know Cyriel very well as we had the one season together.
“He is obviously a good striker.
“In the Netherlands Cyriel later went on to do very well at Feyenoord and played in the Europa Conference League final (1-0 loss to Roma, 2022).
“I know Cyriel is a good player and we will need to try and keep him and Rangers quiet.
“I also played against (Vaclav) Cerny when I was in the youth game.
“He was at Ajax and I was at Feyenoord, so I know quite a few of the Rangers players.
“Playing against another big team will be great.”
Centre-back Knoester began his career with Feyenoord moving to another Dutch club, Heracles.
He joined Ferencvaros in 2022 where he would go on to win the Hungarian title in his first season at the club.
Knoester spent the 2023/24 campaign on loan at Aarhus in Denmark where he played in a Danish Cup final loss to Silkeborg.
Advice from former Dons loan star
The 26-year-old joined Aberdeen on the winter window deadline day after leaving Ferencvaros.
He turned his back on a lucrative move to a club in Europe in favour of signing on at Aberdeen.
Former Aberdeen loanee Stefan Gartenmann, now at Ferencvaros, helped persuade him to sign on at Pittodrie.
Knoester said: “Everything Stefan said to me about Aberdeen has been right.
“He is doing very well at Ferencvaros and that is good to see.
“We still speak but time goes fast as he’s busy and I’m busy.
“However, once in a while we post something and we speak to each other.”
Knoester was one of six new additions secured by manager Jimmy Thelin during the January transfer window.
Aberdeen’s hierarchy outlaid more than £1million to strengthen the defence.
Form revival since transfer window
Latvian international centre-back Kristers Tobers was signed from Swiss club Grasshoppers for £600,000.
Right-back Alexander Jensen was secured for £545,000 from Swedish Allsvenskan club Brommapojkarna.
Loan deals until the end of the season were also secured for Oday Dabbagh (Charleroi), Jeppe Okkels (Preston North End) and Alfie Dorrington (Tottenham Hotspur).
Aberdeen were in the midst of a damaging Premiership slump during the winter transfer window that would stretch to 14 games without a victory.
Since the winter window closed Aberdeen have lost only once in nine games in all competitions.
The Reds are only one point behind third-placed Hibs and are in the Scottish Cup semi-final where they will face Hearts on April 19.
Knoester said: “It’s difficult for me to speak about what happened earlier in the season because I only arrived in the January window.
“But I do feel very good here.
“Also, the others who came in about that same time are doing very well.
“The recent results are showing that and it’s always nice to be part of a positive situation.”
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