One of Scottish football’s rising stars, Lewis Ferguson, is set to make his 50th appearance for Aberdeen tonight against Rijeka in the Europa League. The 19-year-old has been a revelation since arriving in the north-east from Hamilton Academical last summer.
One of Ferguson’s stand-out moments for the club came in just his second appearance, when he scored a bicycle kick against Burnley. However, it was in vain as Aberdeen were eventually knocked out by the Premier League side.
This summer, he has already played in Finland against Rovaniemi, in Georgia against Chikhura Sachkhere, and now he is looking forward to getting his teeth stuck in on the Croatian coast.
“Playing in Europe is different class,” he said. “I never thought for a minute a couple of years ago when I was at Hamilton that I would be playing in Europe within a few years. That’s surprised me a bit. I just take everything in my stride and take every game as it comes.
“Does it feel like we’re a proper European club? Yeah it does. Last year we only got a wee taste of it because it was just the one tie but when you’re playing every week it starts to feel real. It’s something that I always wanted to do was play in Europe and test yourself in places like this.”
Ferguson’s father is the former Hearts midfielder, Derek, so it was slightly surprising when television footage surfaced showing him fervently celebrating Aberdeen’s winner against the Gorgie club on Sunday.
As Ryan Hedges struck the ball into the net, he and his team-mates, including Ferguson, set off towards the Richard Donald stand to celebrate with their cheering fans. In amongst the scrum was Derek.
“I just ran over and jumped in and celebrated,” said Ferguson. “I haven’t spoke to him about it. He was sitting down in the front seats so he must have just got caught up in it. That’s just part of the game.”
Ferguson has been widely tipped to make his debut for the Scottish national team in the imminent future. He is a regular face in the under-21s but is edging closer to the first team.
He said: “It would be massive, it would be an honour to play for Scotland or even to get called up. I don’t really think too much of it. I just go out and try to perform for Aberdeen. If and when that does come, I’ll take it. Obviously it would be a very proud moment but I don’t think too much about it. I just take every day as it comes and try to perform for Aberdeen.”
But, for now, Ferguson is just looking forward to making a milestone appearance.
“It’s come as a bit of a surprise,” he said. “I don’t know why I haven’t really thought about it. It’s nice to hear that.
"You can never really think that you’re going to go straight into a side and set your mark because you don’t know what can happen in football. Obviously that was my aim to come up and go straight into the team and work as hard as possible and show the staff and boys what I was capable of.”
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