The former Scottish football attacker looking to end Aberdeen's European dream

When Aberdeen square off against Qarabag on Thursday for a place in the Europa Conference League groups, there will be a former Scottish football foe lining up for the opposition in the form of ex-Hibs attacker Abdellah Zoubir.

Abdellah Zoubir is tackled by Celtic's Joe Ledley during his spell at Easter Road. Picture: SNS

“Zoubir has got great balance and two great feet, and his ball control and awareness and positional sense are very good. He’s also direct, and he likes to take people on and have a go and he’s really different to any of the ones that play in that position.”

Those were the words of Pat Fenlon after the signing of the Frenchman on loan from Istres in 2013. The young winger was an exciting addition, but other than a few fleeting moments, he failed to back up those words with actions during his stay.

In total, he completed 90 minutes just twice (oddly, both against Celtic at Easter Road), was largely unused by Terry Butcher when the former Inverness CT boss replaced Fenlon as manager, and failed to feature at all in the final four months of the campaign due to injury as Hibs were ultimately relegated from the Scottish top flight.

Upon his return to Istres he found the pathway to the first-team much easier to navigate after they dropped into the third tier of French football. His performances were enough to win him a move to Petrolul Ploiești in the top flight of Romania. However, the club had to sell off most of their star players due to severe financial problems as they ultimately finished the season rock bottom and were declared bankrupt.

Zoubir took the opportunity to return to French with second-tier Lens, where stayed for two years playing consistently and chipping in with seven goals.

That was when Qarabag came calling. He signed for the Azerbaijani side in the summer of 2018 and is now entering his fourth season with them.

He’s had a habit of chipping in with important goals on the European level. He scored the all-important second in a 3-0 victory at Legia Warsaw which saw Qarabag qualify for the Europa League group stages last term, while the season before he netted what would prove to be the decisive goal as they were able to fend off a spirited showing from Linfield at the same stage of Europe’s secondary competition.

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