Aberdeen winger Topi Keskinen lifts lid on mammoth 18-month season - that will continue with Euro under-21 finals this month

Press and Journal

a day ago

Aberdeen winger Topi Keskinen is determined to end a mammoth 18-month long season by becoming a history maker with Finland.
Keskinen is set to star for his nation in the UEFA European under-21 Championship that runs in Slovakia from June 11 to 28.
The 22-year-old has been recalled from the senior squad for the Euro U21 finals because the tournament has immense significant for the Finns.
It is only the second time Finland have reached the Euro U21 finals, with the previous appearance in 2009.
Participation in the Euros further extends Keskinen's gruelling season that began in January last year with HJK Helsinki.
He enters the Euros on a high having helped Aberdeen secure Scottish Cup glory with a win against Celtic in the final.
Keskinen has played 71 games without a break and admits that relentless schedule is tiring, more emotionally and physically.
However, he is fired up for one last push to add international glory to his Scottish Cup winning triumph.
He said: 'I knew I was going to have a long season when I didn't get sold in the January transfer window last year.
'I thought 'now I'm in Helsinki and the target is to go in the summer'.
'I have played for one-and-a-half years now but that is just professional football.
'When you have so many games you don't have that much time to think about it.
'I just had to make sure that I recovered well from the different games.
'I'll have a few days off and then I have the Euros.
'I think mentally it's even harder than physically.'
Keskinen's season began in January last year when competing in the Finnish Cup.
The winger had only a month off having competed in the UEFA Conference League group stages until late December.
He faced Aberdeen home and away during that group stage in 2023, starting a 2-2 draw in Finland on November 30.
Keskinen played 22 games for HJK Helsinki in the new Finnish season before an £860,000 transfer to Aberdeen last summer.
The winger's final appearance for HJK Helsinki was when starting a 3-0 win against AC Oulu in the Veikkausliiga on July 27.
His debut for Aberdeen was on August 17 when coming off the bench to score a stoppage time winner in a 1-0 League Cup win against Queen's Park.
Keskinen said: 'We had a longer season with HJK Helsinki because we were in the group stages (Conference League).
'We were still playing in the group stages when all the other teams were back from their holidays.
'Helsinki came back in January, so I had some of December off.'
Finland will kick-start their Euro U21 campaign with a group clash against Netherlands at the Košická Futbalová arena on June 12.
They also face Ukraine and Denmark in Group D with the final match on June 18.
Should Finland progress from the groups the quarter-finals are on June 21 and 22.
The semi-finals are on June 25 with the final set for three days later.
Aberdeen return for pre-season training in late June in preparation for a campaign with guaranteed European league action.
Keskinen said: 'I'm likely to get extra time off (by Aberdeen) having been involved at the Euros.
'It depends how far we get.
'But when you play 18 months of football in a row, you don't really need a full pre-season.'
Keskinen played a key role in Finland's qualification campaign in Group E for the Euro U21 finals.
During that campaign the winger broke into the Finland senior squad.
He made his senior debut when introduced off the bench in a 3-0 Nations League loss to Greece on September 7.
His first start for Finland came three days later in a 2-0 Nations League loss to England at Wembley.
Capped four times Keskinen was recalled to the under-21 squad because success in the tournament means so much to the nation.
He said: 'It's only the second time in Finnish history we've had a team in the Euro under-21 finals.
'This is a really big thing for Finnish football culture.
'We have a really good team and want to go through from the group.
'My friend Jukka Raitala who was a teammate at Helsinki is 36 now.
'He was in the team the last time Finland were in the under-21 Euros, so it's been a while.'