Dante Polvara kick started Aberdeen’s European adventure with his goal in the first game of the group in Frankfurt back in September, and although the Dons can’t progress into the knock-out phase, he’s looking to finish things in style when Eintracht Frankfurt come to Pittodrie on Thursday.

“I’m really excited for the game against Frankfurt. It’s a shame we can’t advance further in Europe but it’s still a really big game, it’s a real honour to get to play against a team like them. These are the games you dream of playing in when you’re young and it would be great to share the pitch again, and compete against the players that Frankfurt have.

“We saw some of the footage from their win over Bayern Munich at the weekend and they are an impressive team. You look at that and it’s exciting, to see how well they can play and know that we get the chance to take on a team at that level and see how we match up.

“But I felt we played well in Frankfurt and pushed them all the way, so we can take confidence from that and from the fact that we’re in our stadium this time. Hopefully we can try to make them feel a bit more uncomfortable.

“For us, that first game was a big thing for a lot of our boys, playing at that level in Europe, in the group stages, whereas they maybe have more experience. We’ve got five games behind us at this level now and we have more confidence, so we feel good about going into the game. We want to give the fans one last exciting game in Europe to enjoy this season, we want to entertain them and we want to get that win for them.

“Getting a win tomorrow would be great because it’s been frustrating that we haven’t managed to do that when we’ve played so well in Europe. Even outside of Europe, that’s been a bit of a theme this season.

“That’s how it goes sometimes, just like there are days when you play poorly but end up winning somehow. It’s just been going against us this season, but that will change. But as well as the frustration in Europe, there have been a lot of learning points for us too, things that are making us better and giving us a lot to build on.”

After Thursday’s game, the Dons will be heading for Glasgow and the Viaplay Cup final, but Dante insists they won’t be taking their eye off the ball on Thursday.

“We all understand the importance of the game on Sunday but that doesn’t take away the focus we have for the Frankfurt game. It’s an opportunity for us to play well again in front of the fans after Sunday, it’s an opportunity for the players to show what we can do.

“I’m sure a lot of the boys that play will be thinking that it’s a chance to put themselves in the manager’s thinking for Sunday too. You want to impress whatever the game, but even more so playing in Europe and then with the cup final on the horizon too.

“As a team, we want to win the game and play well to give us momentum going forward, not just into Sunday but into a lot of league games before the break. We did well against Hearts, that was an important win to lift the spirits and remind everyone of what we can do. It was rocking here when Duk assisted Leighton to score the goal at the end!

“We fought hard, we kept them under pressure, their manager said we bullied them, and that’s how it felt. We dug deep after a couple of losses and I was really pleased to see us able to do that. It would be nice to do that again on Thursday in front of a full stadium.”