Dante Polvara left Aberdeen pals thinking ‘I can't f*** this up now' as he reveals Celtic penalty advice during shootout
Polvara struggled to watch the penalties and used the reaction of the Red Army as his Hampden guide
Dante Polvara revealed that Sir Alex Ferguson's Scottish Cup advice was simple - "All that matters is getting the win'.
The Dons' greatest ever manager sent a good luck message and motivational video to Jimmy Thelin and his class of 2025, ahead of their historic Hampden win over Celtic.
It certainly proved the case as an Aberdeen team lifted their first trophy in 11 years and its first Scottish Cup in 35 years.
Polvara confirmed: 'The message Sir Alex told us there's always a chance and all that matters is getting the win.'
Thelin has met Ferguson on several occasions and has built up a rapport with the Swedish boss.
He has now followed in his footsteps by delivering a trophy to Aberdeen and by giving Brendan Rodgers' treble-chasing Celtic a bloody nose.
This Scottish Cup final went the distance and to penalties but the American was always confident the footballing gods would shine on them.
He also felt they were due one on Celtic after they beat them on spot kicks in last year's Scottish Cup semi-final at Hampden.
Polvara admitted: 'When we equalised everything was a bit still and when it went to penalties, I felt we'd do it.
'Because of what happened in last season's semi-final, I thought we'd have a bit of fortune this year. It was crazy.
'Barry Robson told us about the League Cup final and put a picture on the slide before that one. So it was nice to finally see it, it was amazing.'
It has been three-and-a-half decades since Aberdeen got a Scottish Cup parade that they were able to celebrate at the weekend.
The midfielder and his team lapped it up. He acknowledged: 'The history of this cup is incredible, it was 35 years since Aberdeen last won it and someone said it's 31 years since there was a proper upset in it.
'I wanted to do something like this when I came here so we'll look forward to next season now.'
Polvara came off the bench and netted his penalty in the shootout. It helped that Dimitar Mitov had saved Callum McGregor's opener and Graeme Shinnie had put his away.
Johnny Kenny levelled for Celtic but Polvara kept the Dons 2-1 ahead. He insisted he had done his homework in advance.
He explained: 'I wanted to take a penalty, one hundred percent. As soon as I knew I wasn't starting, I wanted to come on and make a mark.
'I researched all the stats about penalties, where to hit them and where people miss them.
'I'm a bit of a maths guy because in college I missed a few so I looked into it. So I started researching everything to find the best way.
'If we get to another one I'll maybe have to change it, but we'll see.'
He then came back and told those still to take that it was easier than it looked.
Polvara added: 'Walking down to take it, I couldn't feel my body but once I scored I came back and told the boys it's so much easier than you think!
'They said that made them way more nervous because they were left thinking 'I can't f*** this up now'.
'When it hits the net it's just pure relief, your body is just numb when you step up to it and I didn't really see the ball.
'I just saw the keeper dive the wrong way and the ball was in the net.
'Your whole body just goes, you let out every piece of energy you have - just pure relief."
Polvara was confident with his own penalties but struggled to watch the others. He turned away and didn't know that Dimitar Mitov had saved Alistair Johnston's penalty until he saw the Red Army celebrating.
Polvara, talking to RedTV, confirmed: 'I couldn't watch so I turned around then noticed the big screen, so that kind of ruined the purpose of it.
'I glanced at it, thought 'oh sh**' and watched the crowd instead.
'So I then saw their reaction, 20,000 people going wild and thought 'no way, he's just saved it'.
'I was going to watch the next one because I knew Mats would score, I told him he'd do that so I would have watched his.'
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