Brewster hopes Dundee Utd can make history against AEK
Brewster evades AEK's Andreas Zikos in Hibs' 2001 Uefa Cup aggregate defeat
By Keir Murray
Former Dundee United striker Craig Brewster hopes that the Tannadice club can create a piece of Scottish football history against AEK Athens.
The Terrors play the Greeks in Dundee on Thursday in the first leg of their play-off to reach the Europa League.
"It's going to be a tough match. AEK are a well-known side who play in European competition every season," said Brewster, now a coach at Scottish First Division side Ross County.
"No Scottish side has ever beaten them on aggregate. I really hope United can be the first."
Having scored the winning goal for Dundee United in the Scottish Cup final against Rangers in 1994, the club had the chance to savour continental competition in the European Cup Winners' Cup.
"I played against Tatran Presov in the first round," Brewster told BBC Scotland.
"We beat them 3-2 at home and then lost the away leg 3-1. It was a sore one."
Six months before I came back to sign for Hibs I was on my way to sign for AEK
Craig Brewster reveals how close he was to playing for AEK
Now, with Dundee United having won the Scottish Cup in May for the first time since Brewster's days at the club, Peter Houston's side face a daunting task to reach the Europa League and are obviously hoping there is no repeat of that early exit.
"When we were playing the Slovakians, we were really going in against the unknown," said Brewster.
"It's different for Dundee United for this tie, though.
"Everybody knows about AEK Athens. They are a famous club across Europe.
"But when you look at the transfer of Daniel Majstorovic to Celtic, even they are not immune to the financial difficulties that clubs everywhere are facing."
The same year United lost to Tatran Presov, the Greeks put paid to Rangers' European Cup hopes at the first round, beating the Ibrox side 2-0 in Athens and 1-0 in Glasgow.
Brian Laudrup challenges the AEK goalkeeper in Rangers' 1994 defeat
In 1996, Brewster moved from United to Ionikos - "I went out for a year and stayed five years" - and came up against Dimitris Saravakos, who scored the goals against Rangers in Athens.
Brewster recalled: "AEK were a great team then but we beat them a few times when I was with Ionikos. I remember scoring a 91st-minute winner against them, but they beat us in the Greek Cup final in 2000.
"At that time they played at their home ground in Philadelphia, the Nikos Goumas, but now they are at the Olympic Stadium.
"That will make it less intimidating for the United players because there is now a 400m track around it so it won't feel like the fans are right on top of the players."
In his fifth year in Greece, Brewster had the chance to sign for AEK, and when that fell through he feels he lost some of his appetite for playing in the country.
"Six months before I came back to sign for Hibs I was on my way to sign for AEK when I got a call to say that my existing club were offering me more money," he said.
"That was the main reason I came back; I was so disappointed that I hadn't got the chance to play for them."
Brewster's and AEK's paths were to cross on two more occasions, though, when Hibs were drawn against the Athens side in the 2001 Uefa Cup.
"I played in both legs. We were 2-0 down from the first match, which had been delayed by a week because of the attack on the Twin Towers, and we had them back at Easter Road," said Brewster.
"Paco Luna had pulled it back to 2-2 and had the chance to score a hat-trick in the dying seconds but somehow headed it wide. The stadium was stunned.
Hearts' Christophe Berra and Craig Gordon are dejected at an AEK goal
"The game went into extra-time and AEK scored twice to level the match on the night. We scored another to win the game but we went out 4-3 on aggregate.
"I was also at Hearts' Champions League qualifier at Murrayfield four years ago when AEK beat them 2-1. They put Hearts out 5-1 on aggregate so you can see from these results how hard it will be for United."
To add to Brewster's assessment of the scale of the task, only last month Rangers lost 1-0 to AEK in a friendly in Sydney, a DVD of which has been occupying the Tannadice manager.
There are chinks in the Greek armour. Their season does not kick-off until two days after the draw is made for the Europa League on Friday 27 August. United have, at least, played competitive football.
Such is the disquiet among the boisterous supporters that, after a recent friendly defeat by Kallithea, the coach Dusan Bajevic was attacked by some of his own fans who had invaded the pitch.
And if United can find how to make the most of the void left by Majstorovic's departure in the centre of defence, they may have a fighting chance when they fly out for the return leg.
But with veteran defender Traianos Dellas and Papa Bouba Diop recent recruits, Houston's mission couldn't be much tougher.
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