It was season 2005/06 that Dundee Utd last played in Europe. Its a campaign that the Utd fans would rather forget as the Arabs crashed out of the UEFA cup by drawing 2-2 against Finnish minnows MYPA. This time the Scottish Cup Winners take on experienced Greek outfit AEK Athens , who recently beat Champions Rangers 1-0 in the Sydney Festival of Football. The Athens game will not only be a test for Utd's young squad but also Manager Peter Houston as he takes charge of a side in European competition for the first time.
Dundee Utd go into this game on the back of a 1-1 draw away to St Mirren , that game might give them a slight advantage in terms of real match fitness as AEK dont start in their league till the 29th of August. Utd now boast 3 full Scottish internationalists in Kenneth , Conway and Robertson , Gary Kenneth started in the game vs Sweden last week and Scott Robertson came on as a 2nd half sub , but both would have gained valuable experience and hopefully this can help Utd get a result in this difficult game. It is also a big game for David Goodwillie , each season this youngster is getting better and better. Goodwillie is a star of the Scotland U21 team and scored the opening goal in Utd's Scottish Cup win vs Ross County in May. This will be a big step up for the lad and it will be very interesting to see how he plays.
AEK are in financial trouble , they sold star defender Daniel Majstorovic to Celtic this week basically to get him off the wage bill. I watched the AEK vs Rangers game on the Internet last month and AEK although very good on the ball looked very suspect in the air and were a bit lucky to beat Rangers as the Scottish champions missed a host of chances. The Greeks though scored an excellent goal with Aussie Nathan Burns finsihing of a fine passing move by beating Allan McGregor with a bullet header. Coach Dušan Bajević has returned for the 3rd time to the club and although in financial trouble has been able to sign very good players in Nikolaos Liberopoulos, Traianos Dellas, and Papa Bouba Diop. AEK reached the final of the Greek cup last season but were beaten 15-14 on penalties by Olympiakos , AEK also finished 4th in the Greek league qualifying for the Europa League.
Prediction - make no bones about it , this is a very hard tie for Dundee Utd to win. AEK are rightly favorites and it would be a huge achievement for Utd to go through. At Tannadice though i can see Utd getting a draw , i think 1-1 but 0-0 would be better, I just cant see Utd keeping this decent Greek side out. Hopefully I'm wrong and Utd turn back the clock to the 80's and produce a great performance.
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