For brave Aberdeen, the final blast of Czech referee Miroslav Zelinka’s whistle at Pittodrie brought defeat over two legs but no disgrace. The European adventures of Derek McInnes and his men have taken them to Macedonia to eliminate KF Shkendija and Croatia to oust HNK Rijeka. But the continental sojourns of this club with such a rich European history were ended in the narrowest fashion by classy Kairat Almaty of Kazakhstan. To progress into the play-off round of the Europa League, the Dons would have had to create a piece of modern history. Not since 1984, when Alex Ferguson’s side were European Cup Winners’ Cup holders, had the Pittodrie outfit overturned a first-leg loss to go through; against the Hungarians of Ujpest Dosza in the quarter-finals.Aberdeen were knocked out of Europe in the third qualifying roundGerard Gohou put the visitors ahead in the 59th minuteKenny McLean claimed a late equaliser but it was not enoughPittodrie stadium was sold out for the European clashSign up for this season’s MailOnline Fantasy Football game
There was no surprise that, when the killer goal came, it was notched by _.