VIKING IS NOT TO MY LIKING
FACTFILE
FOUNDED: 1899.
STADIUM: Viking Stadium, Stavanger (15,900).
MANAGER: Bjarne Berntsen. Former Norway defender was boss of his country’s women’s team for four years. Bizarrely, was vice-president of the Norwegian FA but then returned to management with Viking three years ago.
HONOURS: Norwegian League eight times, Norwegian Cup six times.
STAR MAN: Veton Berisha. Norway striker who leads their scoring charts and has also played for Rapid Vienna and Greuther Furth in Germany.
INTERESTING FACT: The sides met in a mid-season friendly five years ago.
Aberdeen won the Energy Cities Cup by beating Viking 2-1 thanks to goals from current Dons star Scott Wright and Scotland midfielder Kenny McLean, now with Norwich.
DEREK McINNES knows his Aberdeen team landed the toughest Europa League tie they could have got when paired with Viking Stavanger.
The Dons could have been drawn against Bala Town from Wales or Progres Niederkorn of Luxembourg but have to tackle the Norwegian Cup winners away from home in the second qualifying round and all the travel restrictions that come with the pandemic.
McInnes, however, believes his Aberdeen side can still put Viking to the sword – even if the Norwegians are halfway through their season.
The Pittodrie boss said: “It’s probably the toughest tie we could have got because the Norwegian league is the strongest of what we could have faced.
“We are aware of Viking winning the cup last season and how they have been in the last few matches.
“They are ahead of us in game time, they have played 16 games at the moment.
“We are looking forward to it. It’s wishful thinking we will always get a home tie so you have to deal with it.
“But we have been a strong away team over the years so we are fine with that.”
The Dons will need to be tested when they arrive in Stavanger meaning they will need to travel more than two days before the September 17 tie.
McInnes said: “We need to be
BY SCOTT BURNS in Norway 48 hours before the game and are not allowed to train until we get the test results back over there.
“So that means we will have to go out on the Tuesday, get the tests done and then hopefully have them back within 24 hours.
“They don’t guarantee that but that will be the aim. As a staff we will have to look into the logistics of it, whether we train at Pittodrie on the Tuesday morning and then head out.
“It’s a quick flight so that’s in our favour but we will have to make sure the timings are fine to get tested and the results back.
“The quicker we get tested the quicker we have the results, and that will allow us to train.”
Aberdeen beat Viking 2-1 in a friendly five years ago under McInnes and the manager knows they will be much changed from that side, as they look to build on their last-round win over NSI Runavik.
McInnes said: “We played one international break and what I remember most is playing Kenny McLean at left-back because we didn’t have anyone else.
“They were a capable side then and I would imagine that will be the same this time around too.
“We will do our homework on them in the next few weeks and having Ronny Hernandez here will help too because he will be able to give us a few bits of information from his time in Norway.”
Aberdeen have won their last four games and those results have boosted confidence.
The partnership of Ross
McCrorie and Lewis Ferguson was a major factor in the win over Hibs and led chairman Dave Cormack to mention them in the same breath as Gothenburg Greats Neil Simpson and Neale Cooper.
Cormack, speaking on Twitter, said: “With the injuries, as a board, we have been reactive in investing in a young Scottish player in Ross McCrorie.
“Derek won’t thank me for this but we were talking the other day and he said that Ross and Lewis Ferguson remind him of Cooper and Simpson and I can see why.”