Aberdeen’s European exploits under Alex Ferguson became legendary in the club’s history this is a look back at the European games played by Aberdeen under his management.
1978/79 – European Cup Winners Cup
First Round
13/9/78 Marek Dimitrov 3 Aberdeen 2
Drew Jarvie put Aberdeen ahead early in the game but in the second half the Bulgarians scored twice before Joe Harper levelled. The home side scored a winner in the final minute.
27/9/78 Aberdeen 3 Marek Dimitrov 0
Second half goals by Gordon Strachan, Drew Jarvie & Joe Harper saw the Dons progress
Second Round
18/10/78 Fortuna Dusseldorf 3 Aberdeen 0
The Germans took a first half lead , then added a second after an hour. A third goal in the last 10mins gave Aberdeen an uphill task at Pittodrie
1/11/78 Aberdeen 2 Fortuna Dusseldorf 0
Chic McLelland and Joe Harper scored early in the second half but the Germans held on to qualify
Aberdeen lost 3-2 on aggregate to the German Cup holders
1979/80 UEFA CUP
First Round
19/9/79 Aberdeen 1 Eintracht Frankfurt 1
Eintracht took an early at Pittodrie before Joe Harper equalised early in the second half
3/10/79 Eintracht Frankfurt 1 Aberdeen 0
German International Holzenbein’s goal for the Eintracht after 50 mins knocked Aberdeen out
1980/81 EUROPEAN CUP
First Round
17/9/80 Aberdeen 1 Austria Vienna 0
Mark McGhee’s goal after 31mins gave Aberdeen the advantage going to Austria
1/10/80 Austria Vienna 0 Aberdeen 0
A clean sheet in Vienna gave Aberdeen their first win in the European Cup
An excellent defensive performance saw Aberdeen through 1-0 on aggregate
Second Round
22/10/80 Aberdeen 0 Liverpool 1
A goal after 5mins by Liverpool’s Terry McDermott silenced Pittodrie
5/11/80 Liverpool 4 Aberdeen 0
Liverpool raced into a 2-0 half time lead when Willie Miller scored an own goal before Phil Neal added a second. Kenny Dalglish and Alan Hansen added to the scoreline in the second half
1981/82 UEFA CUP
First Round
16/9/81 Ipswich Town 1 Aberdeen 1
John Hewitt’s second half equaliser gave Aberdeen great encouragement ahead of the second leg
30/9/81 Aberdeen 3 Ipswich Town 1
Gordon Strachan’s early penalty was cancelled out by John Wark before half time. A superb second half display saw Peter Weir score twice to seal a deserved victory
A coming of age for the Aberdeen team of the 1980s eliminating the UEFA Cup holders Ipswich Town before losing to Hamburg the 1980 European Cup winners
Second Round
21/10/81 Aberdeen 3 Arges Pitestie 0
The Romanians were blown away by three first half goal from Gordon Strachan, Peter Weir and John Hewitt
4/11/81 Arges Pitestie 2 Aberdeen 2
The game was turned on it’s head by two goals in the first half for the hosts and it took a Gordon Strachan penalty early in the second half to give the Dons breathing space before John Hewitt netted late in the game
Third Round
25/11/81 Aberdeen 3 Hamburg 2
Eric Black gave Aberdeen an early lead but Horst Hrubesch equalised early in second half before goals by Andy Watson and John Hewitt put Aberdeen 3-1 in side the final ten minutes. A 25 yard spectacular goal by Hrubesch gave the Germans a way back into the tie.
9/12/81 Hamburg 3 Aberdeen 1
Hamburg went 3-0 ahead and virtually killed off the tie despite Mark McGhee’s late goal reducing the deficit.
1982/83 EUROPEAN CUP WINNERS CUP
Preliminary Round
18/8/82 Aberdeen 7 Sion 0
Aberdeen were unfortunate to have to play an extra tie as there were an uneven number of teams in the competition. Eric Black opened the scoring after 2mins and a quickfire double half way through the first half by Gordon Strachan and John Hewitt put the Dons on easy street before Neil Simpson added a fourth before half time. Second half goals from Mark McGhee and Stewart Kennedy added to an own early at the start of the second half.
1/9/82 Sion 1 Aberdeen 4
John Hewitt’s opener was soon cancelled out before Willie Miller restored the Aberdeen lead in the second half before a Mark McGhee double ended the scoring.
First Round
15/9/82 Aberdeen 1 Dinamo Tirana 0
John Hewitt’s first half goal provided a first leg lead to take to Albania
29/9/82 Dinamo Tirana 0 Aberdeen 0
A solid defensive performance from Miller , McLeish and Rougvie saw Aberdeen progress
Second Round
20/10/82 Aberdeen 2 Lech Poznan 0
Mark McGhee scored early in the second half and soon after Peter Weir added a second
3/11/82 Lech Poznan 0 Aberdeen 1
A goal on the hour mark from Dougie Bell set up a Quarter Final place
Quarter Final
2/3/83 Bayern Munich 0 Aberdeen 0
Aberdeen produced a strong defensive performance with Dougie Bell as a holding midfield player in place of Gordon Strachan , in front of Miller and McLeish nullified the German favourites.
16/3/83 Aberdeen 3 Bayern Munich 2
The famous Pittodrie evening began badly as Klaus Augenthaler smashed a long range effort into the top corner to give the Germans the lead after 10mins. Neil Simpson brought the Dons level by half time.
The second half started like the first as Pflugler volleyed Bayern 2-1 in front after 61mins.
Aberdeen responded , a dummy free kick routine led to the German defence being flat footed as Gordon Strachan clipped the ball perfectly on to the head of Alex McLeish to power home the equaliser.
Sixty seconds later Pittodrie erupted as John McMaster found the head of Eric Black and when the German goalkeeper Muller produced a superb save , John Hewitt pounced to net the rebound and send Aberdeen into the Semi Finals.
Semi Final
6/4/83 Aberdeen 5 Waterschei 1
An electric start to the game saw Eric Black and Neil Simpson score inside the first 5mins and set up an incredible evening at Pittodrie.
Mark McGhee and Peter Weir scored in quick succession to give Aberdeen a seemingly tie winning 4-0 lead mid way through the second half.
A goal for the Belgians was a mere consolation with McGhee restoring the four goal advantage before full time
20/4/83 Waterschei 1 Aberdeen 0
A late goal conceded was irrelevant as Aberdeen made it safely to the Final
Final – Gothenburg, Sweden
11/5/83 Aberdeen 2 Real Madrid 1
The final in Gothenburg was played in a rain storm and after Eric Black’s early opening goal Alex McLeish was short with a passback , Jim Leighton conceded a penalty and Real Madrid equalised.
Extra time saw Mark McGhee run down the left wing and cross for sub John Hewitt to net the winner as he had done against Bayern Munich
1983/84 EUROPEAN CUP WINNERS CUP
First Round
14/9/83 Akranes 1 Aberdeen 2
Aberdeen fell behind but Mark McGhee immediately equalised before netting a late winner
28/9/83 Aberdeen 1 Akranes 1
A Gordon Strachan second half penalty secured a second round place although a late penalty for the Icelandic team made a nervy finale to the evening
Second Round
19/10/83 Beveren 0 Aberdeen 0
A solid defensive performance in Belgium
2/11/83 Aberdeen 4 Beveren 1
A Gordon Strachan penalty and Neil Simpson goal on the stroke of half time were added to by Strachan and Peter Weir before a late consolation for the visitors
Quarter Final
7/3/84 Ujpest Doza 2 Aberdeen 0
Aberdeen conceded early in the second half and a late second made this a very tricky tie
21/3/84 Aberdeen 3 Ujpest Doza 0
A Mark McGhee first half goal pulled Aberdeen within striking distance of the Hungarians and just as it seemed the Dons were going out be popped up with a late leveller. The striker completed his hat trick 3mins into extra time
Semi Final
11/4/84 Porto 1 Aberdeen 0
An early goal by Gomes for the hosts was a set-back for Aberdeen but with the home leg to come the fans were confident of a second successive ECWC Final place
25/4/84 Aberdeen 0 Porto 1
On a foggy night at Pittodrie Aberdeen could not break down a stubborn Portuguese defence and with 15 mins remaining the visitors scored effectively end the tie and Aberdeen’s two year run in the ECWC.
Aberdeen also beat Hamburg 2-0 at home after a 0-0 draw in Germany to lift the European Super Cup.
1984-85 EUROPEAN CUP
First Round
19/9/84 Aberdeen 2 Dinamo Berlin 1
A goal in either half by Eric Black gave Aberdeen a good start to their European Cup campaign but a late goal by the Germans , made the second leg a tricky assignment
3/10/84 Dinamo Berlin 2 Aberdeen 1
Andreas Thom who would go on to have a successful spell in Scotland with Celtic levelled the scoreline putting Dinamo ahead on away goals early in the second half. Ian Angus scored with 20mins left to put the Dons in pole position. Dinamo however levelled the tie with 5mins remaining and after extra time saw no more scoring the match went to penalties.
Aberdeen led 3-2 and 4-3 in the shootout after a Jim Leighton save however Willie Miller missed a penalty to win the tie. Eric Black missed to allow the Germans to win 5-4 on pens.
1985/86 EUROPEAN CUP
First Round
18/9/85 Akranes 1 Aberdeen 3
Another trip to Iceland and when the hosts scored a penalty to lead at half time , things were not looking good for Dons. A great second half however produced goals by Eric Black , John Hewitt and Billy Stark.
2/10/85 Aberdeen 4 Akranes 1
An early goal by Neil Simpson was equalised before half time by the visitors. Aberdeen ran out comfortable winners with 3 goals in 5mins from John Hewitt, Steve Gray and Willie Falconer
Second Round
23/10/85 Servette 0 Aberdeen 0
Another solid scoreless away European draw.
6/11/85 Aberdeen 1 Servette 0
A first half goal by Frank McDougall saw Aberdeen progress to the Quarter Final
Quarter Final
5/3/86 Aberdeen 2 Gothenburg 2
Willie Miller opening the scoring but the Swedes equalised by half time.
The second half saw Aberdeen re-take the lead through John Hewitt with 10mims remaining. Gothenburg scored an 89th min equaliser that damaged Aberdeen’s hopes of a European Cup semi final appearance
19/3/86 Gothenburg 0 Aberdeen 0
Aberdeen’s longest run in the European Cup ironically ended on away goals in Gothenburg the venue of their triumph in 1983, after they failed to break down the home side
1986/87 EUROPEAN CUP WINNERS CUP
First Round
17/9/86 Aberdeen 2 Sion 1
Aberdeen came from behind to score through a Jim Bett penalty and Paul Wright to take a lead to Switzerland
1/10/86 Sion 3 Aberdeen 0
Alex Ferguson’s final European tie saw them knocked out by Sion the Swiss team who their journey to victory in Gothenburg began, Jim Bett picked up two first half bookings to leave Aberdeen an uphill task
