Aberdeen manager Barry Robson insists his players have given him a selection headache after an impressive 2-0 win over Eintracht Frankfurt in the Europa Conference League.
The Dons signed off on Europe with a fine victory at Pittodrie thanks to goals from Duk and Ester Sokler.
With the Viaplay Cup final against Rangers looming large at Hampden on Sunday, Robson made eight changes from the weekend win over Hearts, but the players who came in all impressed in a fine win over the Bundesliga side.
Robson said: “Every one of them has given me something to think about tonight.
“Every day in training they turn up, work hard and are a good group.
“Shayden Morris and Dante Polvara were excellent, as were Connor Barron and big Angus MacDonald – you can go through them all.
“The boys who came in tonight have done well as they did in Helsinki and I’m really pleased.
“They were playing against a World Cup winner in Mario Gotze and a team worth millions. They’ll remember this night for a long time.
“Most of their team were regulars. They are top-class players who move the ball unbelievably well – technically good and really hard to stop – but we got everything right tonight.”
Victory against Dino Toppmoller’s side was Aberdeen’s first in Europe this season.
Robson was delighted to see his side end their European campaign on a high and believes a victory was no less than his team deserved for their efforts this season.
He said: “We’ve not got what we deserved from this European campaign. We’ve lost two games – one of them here in the 90th minute – and we could have picked up a point in Frankfurt.
“I’m so pleased we got the win tonight, as we’ve deserved it.
“We’ve scored 10 goals in Europe, which is not easy against this quality of opposition.
“That’s as good a result as Aberdeen have had in a long, long time.
“It’s the first time we’ve been at this level in 17 years and the boys should be proud.
“When you are in the group stages of Europe it is something you will always look back on in your career.
“All we’ve done all week is work on Frankfurt.
“You can go into games in different ways and what we have learned is when you come against a team in Scotland, it can be really scrappy.
“Then you play a team like tonight, where you have to be structured. Or a team like Helsinki, where you can press.”
‘Sunday is a game we’re looking forward to’
The pass & then the brilliant finish from Ester Sokler 😮💨
Aberdeen are heading towards a famous win in Europe! 🙌🔥#UECL pic.twitter.com/zdRu2nbtVI
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) December 14, 2023
Back-to-back home wins for the Dons have helped shift the mood substantially at Pittodrie and the Dons will now head for Hampden on Sunday for their cup final meeting with Rangers.
The Aberdeen support were in confident mood as they chanted “bring on the Rangers” at full-time at Pittodrie.
Robson insists his players are full of belief they can bring the League Cup back to the Granite City.
He said: “The boys have all been confident. It’s fatigue, which has affected us.
“They are a great bunch who bounce into the building every day. They’ve always had belief.
“Rangers a really good side and they are favourites, we all know that, but we have to make sure we put on a really good performance.
“We got a good result against Hearts at the weekend and now we’ve beaten Frankfurt.
“Sunday is a game we’re looking forward to and the players deserve some credit.”
Toppmoller: ‘In every statistic we were better… but the most important is the scoresheet’
Frankfurt boss Toppmoller was disappointed his side left Pittodrie with nothing to show for their efforts.
He said: “I’m disappointed we couldn’t get the result we wanted from the game.
“It was the game we expected, playing against a low block, but we had chances to score.
“If we had scored first it would have forced them to open up, but we didn’t and lost the game. We made two easy mistakes defensively.
“I have a lot of respect for Aberdeen and their players. We had control of the game for 90 minutes and in every statistic we were better.
“But the most important is the scoresheet. They scored and we didn’t. That was the difference.”
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