Rangers have only won two of their last six League Cup semi-finals against Aberdeen ahead of Sunday’s clash at Hampden.
Light Blues manager Michael Beale will be looking to break that hoodoo at the national stadium when his side face Jim Goodwin’s Dons.
And it’s the Pittodrie boss who has history on his side ahead of this weekend’s second Viaplay Cup semi.
Rangers and Aberdeen know a win for either team will secure a place in the final at the end of next month where they will face Celtic or Kilmarnock for a chance at silverware.
Here, Herald & Times Sport look at the last half a dozen matchups between the two rivals at this stage in the competition…
Aberdeen 2-1 Rangers – October 11 1955
This was the first ever game between two of Scotland’s biggest clubs in the last four of the League Cup and it was the men from the North-East who came out on top.
Aberdeen were defending league champions back then and had hammered the famous Ibrox ‘Iron Curtain’ defence 6-0 in the previous year’s Scottish Cup semi-final.
This was a much tighter exchange but nonetheless produced the same outcome as first half goals from Graham Leggat and Bob Wishart sent Scott Symon’s Rangers tumbling out of the competition, despite a goal from Johnny Hubbard after the interval.
The Dons went onto beat St Mirren to win the trophy.
Rangers 2-0 Aberdeen (replay) – October 24 1966
The men in blue would exact revenge when the sides next met in the competition at Hampden 11 years later.
However, a replay was needed to separate the two heavyweights.
The first game took place on October 19 and the two couldn’t be separated, drawing 2-2. A Willie Henderson double for the Gers was cancelled out by strikes from Jimmy Wilson and Ally Shewan.
This meant both sets of players had to go again five days later and the Glasgow team got the better on this occasion, running out 2-0 winners thanks to Willie Johnston and Alex Smith.
READ MORE: Celtic vs Kilmarnock & Rangers vs Aberdeen referees announced
Aberdeen 5-1 Rangers – October 27 1976
Aberdeen handed their old foes a cup demolition in one of the club’s most memorable victories.
Rangers were kings of Scottish football in the mid-1970s following a resurgence under manager Jock Wallace.
The treble was won the previous season, but they would soon lose their League Cup crown when a Jocky Scott-inspired Dons side put the Ibrox men to the sword.
A sensational hattrick from Scott and goals from Joe Harper and Drew Jarvie secured a famous night for Ally MacLeod’s men, who went onto do the double over the Old Firm, beating Celtic in the final.
Rangers 1-0 Aberdeen – September 26 1990
The rivalry between the two clubs was as intense it’s ever been in the mid-80s and early 90s when they frequently battled it out for league championships and domestic cups.
The sides met in three consecutive League Cup finals between 1987 – 1989, but on this occasion they met at the semi-final stage.
Graeme Souness made the surprise decision to leave out Rangers captain Terry Butcher from the starting XI after a reported bust up.
Butcher’s absence didn’t trouble the Light Blues too much as they edged out a close encounter.
Trevor Steven scored the only goal of the game on the half-hour mark to secure the win.
Aberdeen 2-1 Rangers – October 24 1995
The tide began to turn between Aberdeen and Rangers as the fortunes of both clubs changed dramatically mid-way through the last decade of the 20th century.
When they met at Hampden in 1995, Rangers were well on their way to nine-in-a-row in what was the greatest era in their history.
But Aberdeen have always been a thorn in the side of their rivals and they claimed another famous semi-final victory.
Walter Smith’s star-studded lineup, which featured recent signing Paul Gascoigne, were sent crashing out of the Coca Cola Cup via a double from Dandies striker Billy Dodds.
Aberdeen 1-0 Rangers – October 28 2018
The last time the two met at this stage in the competition produced another victory for the Reds as they shocked Steven Gerrard’s Rangers.
A late header from Lewis Ferguson sent the travelling Red Army into raptures in Glasgow’s south side.
Rangers controlled possession throughout but found it a frustrating day in front of goal.
Ferguson – son of ex-Ger Derek and nephew of club legend Barry – thumped home an effort from a corner to beat Allan McGregor and clinch a place in the final for Derek McInnes’ men.
Aberdeen would also knock their rivals out of the Scottish Cup that season.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here