ABERDEEN'S Europa League opponents Maribor have been struck by tragedy days before the second leg of their third qualifying round tie.
The Slovenian club are in mourning after two young players were killed in a road accident.
Maribor confirmed that Damjan Marjanovic, 20, and 21-year-old Zoran Baljak had died. The pair played for Maribor's B team.
READ MORE: McInnes insists his players will enjoy hostile atmosphere in Maribor
A club statement said: "With immense pain we received the tragic news that has shattered us deeply. A cruel fate has intervened in its severest form and taken away two young members of our Violet family."
Aberdeen, who play Maribor away on Thursday following a 1-1 draw at Pittodrie, said they were "deeply saddened" by the news.
Aberdeen chief executive Duncan Fraser said: "I spoke with my counterpart Bojan Bon this afternoon and have passed on our condolences from all of the Aberdeen family.
"This puts everything into perspective. The clubs have developed an excellent relationship in the build-up to the games and we will co-operate fully with any wishes that NK Maribor may have to mark this tragedy."
Meanwhile, Maribor defender Rodrigo Defendi has branded Aberdeen long-ball merchants ahead of their Europa League showdown tomorrow.
Aberdeen will travel to Slovenia today faced with an uphill task to qualify for the play-off stage after drawing 1-1 in the first leg at Pittodrie last week in the third qualifying round.
Maribor have defeated Celtic, Rangers and Hibs in the past six years and are desperate to add the Pittodrie team to their Scottish hit-list.
Derek McInnes's men passed up a host of chances to take a first leg lead to the former Yugoslav state and had to rely on a late leveller from Jonny Hayes.
But former Tottenham defender Defendi was not particularly impressed with Aberdeen's tactics after claiming the Scots resorted to basic Route One football.
"It was a tough match for us and very intensive," Defendi said. "Aberdeen were a physical side. To lose a goal in the last five minutes was very annoying for us because I thought we played very well in the game. I hope in the next game we can keep a clean sheet because we would qualify then.
"We are not used to playing a team who play high balls into the box all the time, but we trained this week for exactly that scenario and we were very prepared for how Aberdeen were going to play. So we must be ready again for Aberdeen to play that way again. In fact that was all they did - long balls and long balls and more long balls. We must keep them out again and take our opportunities.
"We knew Aberdeen would play this way, but even though we knew they were going to play high balls into the box, it still wasn't easy to stop them and they weren't easy to play against. It's still a 50/50 game. We have to prepare well for the next game to win. It will be another fight.
"We play at home, this gives us a major advantage. Aberdeen won't be used to our stadium which will be full. I'm a bit disappointed that we are not taking a lead back home with us because when you are 1-0 with a few minutes left, you think you are going to win and we should have kept the lead. The game is still very open though."
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