Aberdeen undone by cruel penalty and red card but avoid Rangers-esque collapse in Europe

Jimmy Thelin’s side arrived in the Romanian capital with some optimism after drawing the first leg of this play-off tie 2-2 against FCSB at Pittodrie a week ago. And despite starting the game positively, the tie unravelled for Aberdeen when they conceded a penalty and lost Alexander Jensen to a red card in process.

That key moment on the stroke of half-time was a hammer blow for the Dons, who went on to lose 3-0 to the Romanian champions, 5-2 on aggregate. FCSB have been poor in their domestic league and were bundled out of the Champions League qualifiers by Skhendija of North Macedonia. Aberdeen had their moments before the unfortunate incident involving Jensen that acted as the catalyst for FCSB to run riot.

The impressive Adil Aouchiche and striker Ester Sokler nearly opened the scoring very early on and Aberdeen sparred away with the Romanians before a VAR intervention on 45 minutes.

A long ball caught out left-back Jensen, already on a booking, and as he tried to chase back David Miculescu as he ran in on goal. In making a challenge just inside the box, the ball struck his outstretched hand, taking it away from the forward. It appeared on first glance an innocuous moment, but the Portuguese VAR Tiago Martins instructed Norwegian referee Espen Eskas to review it all on the monitor and he pointed to the spot, before giving Jensen a red card for a second bookable offence.

It was a cruel double jeopardy for Aberdeen. By UEFA rules, Eskas was probably right to give the penalty, but it’s the sort of infringement that goes unpunished in Scotland due to the handball being accidental. FCSB captain Darius Olaru showed no mercy and struck his penalty sweetly past Dons keeper Dimitar Mitov, who guessed correctly.

FCSB pull away in second half

Aberdeen benefitted from FCSB going down to ten men at Pittodrie, but now the shoe was on the other foot. The hosts returned from the interval with a spring in their step and quickly dominated the encounter. A second goal would kill the tie and it duly came on 52 minutes.

Midfielder Adrian Sut probably won’t hit a better shot than the raker he popped past Mitov from outside the box. He celebrated gleefully in front of the FCSB ultras behind the goal. They knew it was done.

For Aberdeen, it was now about avoiding a Rangers-esque capitulation, who lost 6-0 with ten men against Club Brugge 24 hours earlier. Those fears intensified when a deflected effort from Olaru snuck past Mitov on 59 minutes. It is to Thelin’s men credit that the scoring ended there.

Aberdeen at least have the Conference League draw to look forward to on Friday, a competition which they are undoubtedly better equipped to tackle. They were without Shayden Morris in Bucharest, who was withdrawn from the squad at short notice due to a transfer bid.

Thelin will need further recruits to replicate the exploits of last term. It should be a busy end to the transfer window at Pittodrie. Before that, they will look to get their first points of their Premiership campaign on Sunday when they host Falkirk.