Real Sociedad play their first game in the 2014-15 Europa League on Thursday night, as Scottish Premiership side Aberdeen visit San Sebastian. The game is also Sociedad's first competitive match of the season, and their first since the sale of Antoine Griezmann to league rivals Atlético Madrid.

Sociedad go into the game with a look into the future, and will be hoping to make a better impression in Europe than they did last season. They finished bottom of their Champions League group, picking up just two points, although one of these was a respectable draw against Manchester United. After a 7th place finish in La Liga last season, and having sold their star man, it'll be a tough job to improve on last seasons exploits. 

Alfreð Finnbogason is one of four new players to join La Real this summer, as he made the move from SC Heerenveen to San Sebastian for a fee of around £7m. Joining him is Esteban Granero, who spent last season on loan at the club, although only made a handful of appearances after suffering a serious knee injury early into last season. He moved permanently from Queens Park Rangers for just over £2.5m. Gerónimo Rulli has also joined on a season-long loan as the club look to replace Claudio Bravo, who left for FC Barcelona.

Aberdeen have already played in the first and second qualifying rounds to reach this stage, as they play their first European football since the 2009-10 season, when their Europa League spell was short-lived, falling at the first hurdle against Czech side Sigma Olomouc, losing 8-1 on aggregate. This season, however, they have already breezed past Daugava Rīga of Latvia, before narrowly edging a win against Eredivisie side FC Groningen. 

Their manager Derek McInnes was delighted with his side's progress into the latter rounds of European qualification, but he was adament not to let the stature of Sociedad come into play on match day:

"They have players of a very high standard and it will take a huge effort for us to get close to them, but we identified the better Groningen players and worked very hard to keep them quiet. It will have to be the same again against Real Sociedad."

“But we have to be positive. We have only conceded one goal in four Europa League matches but we will not be all about defending against Real Sociedad, we have to find a way to cause them problems, and we do have the players who can do that.”

Sociedad manager Jagoba Arrasate is wary of the threat that Aberdeen pose, and believes that Groningen underestimated their abilities in the previous round, a mistake he doesn't want to make himself:

“We must be careful, especially in our home game, because they are dangerous away. They are strong and powerful and they were very consistent defensively."

“Looking at their results, Aberdeen seem to be better away than on home soil. I said after the draw we would have rather played the Dutch team because Aberdeen are physically tougher than them and we have struggled against that style. They will be a hard team to break down.”

The second leg will be played a week on Thursday at Pittodrie, with the winners of the tie getting one step closer to the group stages of the Europa League.