Aberdeen beat Eintracht Frankfurt in final Conference League game

Aberdeen have defeated Eintracht Frankfurt 2-0 at Pittodrie to secure their first Europa Conference League win in their final group game.

Luis ‘Duk’ Lopes put them ahead at the end of the first-half and they held on to that until 15 minutes remaining when Ester Sokler doubled the lead.

The home side already knew they were out of Europe before a ball was kicked after only picking up three points from their first five games despite some impressive performances in the group.

So there was only pride to play for and Barry Robson made eight changes from their win over Hearts at the weekend as he kept one eye on Sunday’s League Cup final against Rangers with Devlin, Jensen, Clarkson, Shinnie, McGrath, Hayes, Sokler and Miovski all dropping out.

But they ended their campaign on a high with a famous win against the 2022 Europa League winners.

The visitors, who arrived in Scotland on the back of an impressive 5-1 win over German giants Bayern Munich, had the best of the opening stages but the Dons defended resolutely and limited them to few real opportunities.

There was a couple of half-chances, however Aberdeen kept their shape well and seemed happy to give up the majority of the possession to Frankfurt.

The deadlock was broken just before half-time and came against the run of play when Duk connected with a cross from Shayden Morris and put the ball past Kevin Trapp to make it 1-0.

Aberdeen went into the break with their goal lead in tact and something to hang on to in the second-half.

But rather than sit back they nearly doubled their lead at the start of the second 45 and Morris was involved again when he put in a dangerous looking cross from the right but a Frankfurt defender managed to turn it behind for a corner.

Kelle Roos was responsible for keeping them in front when he made a big save to deny Aaronson.

Robson rang the changes in the closing stages with Jensen, Sokler, McGrath and Devlin replacing Duk, Gartenmann, Morris and Milne for the last 20 minutes.

And Sokler scored the second to make it 2-0 soon after coming on when he raced on to a through ball by Polvara and lifted it over Trapp to double the lead and send the 14,000 home fans into dreamland.

It means Aberdeen finish their campaign with a respectable six points with three draws and a win from six games.