Jimmy Thelin has hailed Duk’s triumphant return to the Aberdeen side and reckons his goal-line clearance in last weekend’s 2-2 draw with Celtic demonstrates just how committed he his to the Pittodrie club.
The Cape Verde international went AWOL last summer in a bid to force a move elsewhere, but has since returned to devastating effect in the last two matches. It was his run that forced Hearts’ Jorge Grant to bring him down and be shown a second yellow card in Aberdeen’s 3-2 victory at Pittodrie, with the former Benfica B man then teeing up Ante Palaversa’s late winner.
The 24-year-old was then called upon from the bench last Saturday with the Dons trailing 2-0 at Parkhead, and along with fellow sub Ester Sokler made a crucial contribution to Thelin’s men claiming a share of the spoils, making a stunning goal line clearance right at the death to perverse Aberdeen’s 14-game unbeaten run in all competitions.
Speaking to the media ahead of Saturday evening’s clash against Dundee United, where three points for the Dons will move them top of the Premiership before Celtic go to Motherwell on Sunday, he said: “I’m happy (with) how he behaved from the first day.
“Also with how well he trained and supported his team-mates. It took some time to get the right fitness for football and connection with team-mates. I like the humble way he approached himself and then went to the games and gave everything he has. There were some moments in the Celtic game when he was a lot of steps behind one of the defenders.
“But he just kept running and creating space for others. I liked the spirit he showed on the pitch. It is in common with the other players as we have really strong team spirit and are a good team.
“Duk also has his own qualities and I’m happy that he got the opportunity to show that to everyone. Team spirit is the most important thing. How you defend, extra steps sometimes and that feeling that they show.
“It is for real and Duk really showed it and everyone celebrated together. That is the perfect temperature of the team spirit and it was so nice to see that.”
The Reds face an Arabs side under the guidance of former boss Jim Goodwin that sit just a point behind Rangers in third after two wins and a draw in their last three matches, and Swede Thelin insists they are taking nothing for granted with huge clashes with Rangers in the league and Celtic in the last four of the Premier Sports Cup coming up in the next week.
He added: “We don’t work like that. Tomorrow we have three points in front of us and we have to prepare ourselves to challenge to take those points.
“We can’t think about any distractions or what could happen in the future. Now, as we always do, we put the best team on the pitch for tomorrow and take it from there.
“We have some players with some small issues but hopefully everyone is fine for the game. It is looking good. I don’t think about runs or anything like that. For us Celtic now is history and all focus now all focus has been for the Dundee United game, and only that game.
“We leave Celtic behind and only focus on how we get the points against Dundee United. We can’t count on history we need to go for the next game, preparation recovery and how we build up tactics against Dundee United and how we play.
“We do it step by step and that is where we are right now. Jim (Goodwin) is a good coach and they are a really well organised team. They are stable in the core and have some ideas of how they want to attack the opponent and are strong on that. There will be fighting spirit with two strong teams.”
The former Elfsborg boss is also hopeful his side can harness the energy of another sold out crowd at Pittodrie. “I heard about the history and that it is a sell-out again”, he said.
“It is a late kick-off in front of our supporters in an evening kick-off so the atmosphere will be great. It is important to feel this connection that we are doing something together and trying to create something together.
“These emotions we create together and the supporters have a huge impact. Everyone is together, the supporters and the spirit of the city as they are coming to the games which I am happy with.”
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