JIMMY CALDERWOOD last night pleaded with Atletico Madrid to keep Aberdeen's UEFA Cup dreams alive. Calderwood's wants the Spanish aces to dump FC Copenhagen next week to leave his side with a qualification lifeline in Group B. The Dons are rock-bottom of the table after crashing 2-0 to Atletico in the Vicente Calderon Stadium. And they face elimination if Copenhagen win or Lokomotiv Moscow - who lost 1-0 at home to the Danes last night - defeat section leaders Panathinaikos. But if results go their way, Calderwood's men will face a winner-takes-all showdown with Copenhagen at Pittodrie on December 20. He said: "We knew before the game that Copenhagen had won in Moscow. "If Atletico do us a favour in Copenhagen next week then it all goes down to the last game. It is not in our hands. "Panathinaikos need one point but Madrid are a very talented side and we hope they can repeat what they did to us tonight and take something in Copenhagen." Atletico coach Javier Aguirre told the Dons that they weren't dead and buried yet in the competition. He said: "Aberdeen are still alive because we can get the three points in Copenhagen." But Calderwood was left to count the cost of injuries to Jackie McNamara and Zander Diamond, who now face some time on the sidelines. He said: "Jackie has pulled his hamstring. Zander has to go for an X-Ray so he might have broken his wrist. "Jamie Smith has also hurt his hamstring, although it doesn't look as bad as it has done over the last few weeks." Calderwood insisted his players can hold their heads high despite being gunned down by a penalty from Diego Forlan and a free-kick from Simao Sabrosa that will be recorded as an own goal by keeper Jamie Langfield. He said: "The annoying thing was that we seemed to weather the storm. They started very strongly and we got caught sleeping and lost concentration. "Then there was another chance and when we came into the game we were comfortable on the ball. "Atletico are a quality team and if we had gone in at half time 0-0 you never know what would have happened. "They have fantastic supporters but maybe they were getting a bit restless and they got a big lift from the goal. "But credit to the boys. They kept battling. I am a bad loser but there was a lot of pride there." Calderwood admitted that Sergio Aguero was cute in going down for the penalty on the stroke of half-time but felt that Michael Hart shouldn't have made the tackle. He said: "We know Aguero is very very quick but so is Michael. It's a minute from half-time and Aguero has run away from goal so he should never have made the tackle. "Michael is so quick and it would have been a wonder goal had Aguero scored from there. But Michael gave him the chance to look for the penalty and he took it. "I am sure he will learn not to make such a tackle on a player like that in Europe again." Calderwood reckons his squad will be stronger for the latest experience. He said: "I am very disappointed. You wat to start the game right and Atletico started on fire. "We got caught in the first minute but seemed to weather the storm after 10 and 15 minutes. "We lost our two most experienced players at this level in the space of five minutes and that disrupted us. We seemed to be coping defensively at that moment. "It is a massive lesson. Look at our lads. Diamond, Chris Maguire, Ricky Foster and the rest are still young at this level. "That is why it was such a big blow to lose McNamara and Smith they played for Celtic at this level." Dons defender Richie Byrne reckoned Atletico got more than their fair share of luck. And he insisted it was not a freekick that led to the La Liga cracks' second goal. Simao's shot cannoned off the the post and hit Jamie Langfield on the back before bouncing into the net. Byrne believes that Foster was harshly adjudged to have fouled ex-Manchester United star Forlan in the run-up to the killer second in 62 minutes. He said: "I did not think it was a foul and Ricky has been hard done by. Then the ball came off the post and hit Jamie and went in. "Atletico don't need luck as they have enough quality in their ranks without getting good fortune to help them along. "We played well and to concede a goal right at the death in the first half was a killer blow for us. "It was a terrible time to concede that goal and it did deflate us a bit to be honest and it was a disappointing dressing room at half-time and we had to just cope with that kind of setback, "We willl learn from these kind of mistakes. If results go our way then we can still go through and that is the positive thing that we have to cling to for the moment. "Sometimes you get the luck you need and hopefully other teams can do us a favour and set up for a great night against Copenghagen. "This has been a great experience playing against a side like Atletico Madrid and it will stand us in good stead if we ever get to this stage again. "Atletico are such a great side and they see the pass early and they have such great quality in their ranks that they can hurt you at any time in the game." | 
