Eintracht Frankfurt goal hero Robin Koch admits Aberdeen provided a stern test for the Bundesliga giants.
German international defender Koch netted a second half-winner to secure a 2-1 Uefa Conference League Group G defeat of Aberdeen.
The Dons stunned one of the tournament favourites by drawing level in Germany via a Dante Polvara strike.
Former Leeds United player Koch, 27, admitted Aberdeen caused Frankfurt major problems on the counter attack.
He also praised the Dons for the way they defended at the 58,000-capacity Deutsche Bank Park.
Koch said: “It was really tough for us to get in behind Aberdeen, there’s no getting away from that.
“We managed it a couple of times, but it was a hard evening for us.
“Yes, they were really deep but they defended very well.
“Aberdeen were very quick on the counter-attack and that was a big strength of Aberdeen.”
‘We knew Aberdeen were a good team’
The trip to Eintracht Frankfurt will arguably be the toughest fixture in Aberdeen’s Conference League campaign.
Aberdeen are also in group G with PAOK (Greece) and HJK Helsinki (Finland).
The Dons went into the group opener in Germany as huge underdogs.
That was increased by the Reds’ poor domestic form as Barry Robson’s side have yet to win in their opening five Premiership games.
Aberdeen will bid to end that league win drought when hosting Ross County at Pittodrie on Sunday.
Koch says they were not shocked by the high level of Aberdeen’ performance.
He insists Eintracht Frankfurt had studied the Dons closely and knew they were a “good team” despite their poor domestic form.
He said: “We never at any stage thought we would win this easily because we knew that Aberdeen were a good team.
“We watched them in the videos so we knew what was coming.
“Aberdeen were a really solid team and that’s exactly what we expected.”
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