Stuart Armstrong admits Aberdeen “let themselves down” and were fortunate to only ship six goals to AEK Athens, but he hopes the club’s record European loss can prove “character building”.
“It’s a lot to process and analyse,” midfielder Armstrong told BBC Scotland after the 6-0 Conference League humiliation.
“The short story is we let ourselves down. We made it too easy for them and there’s a lot to learn.
“Probably it’s fair [Aberdeen got off lightly conceding six] as they hit the post four or five times. It’s never nice to feel you weren’t really ever in the game and didn’t fight the way you wanted to.
“They have a lot of quality, they’re a good team but we made them an even better team by the way we played.
“They were a team full of good players and they exploited the space that we didn’t.”
Aberdeen went into the game in buoyant mood after two wins in a row lifted them off the bottom of the Premiership table. They will now have to bounce back quickly, with Hibs the visitors to Pittodrie on Sunday.
“You need to learn from it,” Armstrong added.
“It’s a tough night, a tough result but it’s experience, it’s character building.
“To say it doesn’t affect you is wrong but it needs to affect you in the right way. You need to remember it but not dwell on it.
“This is a learning moment. We were beaten heavily, outperformed so we need to learn from it and focus our mind on Sunday.”
