At 3,415 miles as the crow flies, between the north-east of Scotland and south-east Kazakhstan, this tie has thrown up the longest distance travelled in a European club competition.

Aberdeen pulled out all the stops for a luxury airliner. I wonder if tonight's visitors travelled in such fine style?

Aberdeen got this far after squeezing past Shkendija of Macedonia on away goals, then they turned over highly-rated Croatian side HNK Rijeka 5-2 on aggregate.

Averaging two goals a game, Kairat eased past Red Star Belgrade and Alashkert, conquerors of St Johnstone, to progress further than they have in four previous European campaigns.

Tonight's winners will have one more round to play before the Europa League groups are decided.

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And skipper Ryan Jack echoed his manager's thoughts, by adding: "The first goal in any game is vital. Obviously we are going to look to get the first goal. First and foremost though we need to keep it tight and make sure we don't give away anything sloppy.

"This is exactly what I want as a player. I want to be playing in the top competitions. For us, the Europa League is just that right now. That is part of why I wanted to stay at this club. I'm looking forward to the match and hopefully we will get the result."

A 1-0 win will do it for Aberdeen, so the hosts might not exactly come flying out of the traps. Speaking yesterday, manager Derek McInnes said: "You don't have to score in the early stages of the game. Ideally we will. There has to be a measured approach and intelligence as well passion."

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Captain Ryan Jack returns to the starting line-up, along with Niall McGinn, Peter Pawlett and David Goodwillie after the quartet were on the bench for Sunday's win at Dundee United.

Kairat top-scorer Gerard Gohou is back after missing the first leg through injury.

Aberdeen: Ward, Logan, Taylor, Considine, Shinnie, Pawlett, Jack, McLean, Hayes, McGinn, Goodwillie. Subs: Brown, Flood, Rooney, Smith, Robson, Quinn, Shankland.

Kairat Almaty: Plotnikov, Markovic, Bruno, Gorman, Kuantayev, Isael, Bakaev, Tymoschuk, Islamkhan, Lunin, Gohou. Subs: Tkachuk, Rudosselskiy, Darabayev, Kuat, Serginho, Konysbayev, Despotovic.

Referee: Miroslav Zelinka (Czech Republic).

The Dons looked to be in a spot of bother at 2-0 down after 22 minutes in Kazakhstan. However, they steadied the ship after a rocky opening and Kenny McLean's second-half strike has given them a real shot at reaching the play-off round.

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Good evening and welcome to our Europa League qualifying coverage as Aberdeen take on Kairat Almaty at Pittodrie. A near full-house will be behind Derek McInnes's men as they look to overturn a 2-1 deficit.