Nobody should be under any illusion on how tough a task Aberdeen have to face on Thursday.

Only once before have the Dons recovered from losing a first leg 2-0 away from home and gone through. That was in 1984 when in the Quarter Finals of the Cup Winners Cup, the Dons came unstuck against Ujpest Dosza in Hungry after some astonishing misses but a Mark McGhee hat-trick saw the holders squeeze though, his second goal at Pittodrie coming minutes before the end of the 90. 

On Thursday though we are up against a side from La Liga. 

Encouragingly we won both the home legs on the two previous occasions when we have met Spanish opposition in the UEFA Cup; Real Zaragosa in 1968 and Celta Vigo in 1971. And of course, we beat a certain Real Madrid in 1983. If the Dons were to get through this Thursday there is no doubting it would be one of our best ever European results, right up there with that night in Gothenburg when you consider the current scoreline and the gulf in status and finances between Scottish and Spanish football.  

Willo Flood spoke to REDTV after the game in San Sebastian and he put the task facing the team into context

“That was probably the hardest game of football I have played in my entire career. 

“To be fair they are a top top team. 

“But saying that it is only half time and we are bringing them back to Pittodrie. We will have a right go at them and we will see where it takes us. 

“During the majority of the game we only had a few little breaks but in the final 20 minutes I thought we actually looked like scoring. David Goodwillie and Nicky Low gave us a lift when they came on and the gaffer changed one or two things. Fair play to them, they made a difference when they came on and that is what you are looking for your substitutes to do. 

“Jamie made a vital save near the end. Who knows how important that save will be at the end of the day. It does mean we go into the game on Thursday only two goals down, a third goal would have made our job a great deal harder. Langers has pulled off a number of good and important saves like that already this season. Let’s hope he can do it for the rest of the season as well. 

“I must say a word about the supporters know travelled over to the game. They were incredible. They sang the whole game. The manager at the end got us all together and we all as a team went over to thank them. We appreciate everything they have done. Let’s hope whatever happens on Thursday we can give them another great season. 

“It will be a different atmosphere on Thursday. We will have about 20,000 Aberdeen fans behind us and that does make a big difference. I am sure they will spur us on and let’s hope we can get a goal early on and we will see what happens when they are put under a bit of pressure.” 

With men like Willo on the park, with his determination to win and never say die attitude, you just never know, history might just be made.