FCSB 3 Aberdeen 0 (FCSB win 5-2 on aggregate)

Aberdeen have been consigned to UEFA Europa Conference League football this season as they went down to Romanian side FCSB in the Europa League Playoff round.

The Dons return to group phase football for the first time since 2023, where they also found themselves in European football’s third tier competition, in a campaign which produces memorable wins over Bundesliga side Eintracht Frankfurt but ultimately no qualification for the latter stages.

Jimmy Thelin’s side did well to keep the tie alive last week at Pittodrie, having gone down 2-0 in the second half of the first leg, yet they would get no better opportunity to go ahead for the first time in the tie in the opening minutes of the game, when striker Ester Sokler, who scored a 90th minute equaliser last week, trickled a rebounded effort into the hands of goalkeeper Stefan Tarnovanu who gracefully collected the ball into his hands from six yards out.

Aberdeen more than went toe to toe with the Romanian hosts for large parts of the first half, with Ante Palaversa firing a half volley over the bar and summer recruit Adil Aouchiche looking threatening down the left hand side at one stage, yet in equal measure they also got out of jail with Dimitar Mitov rushing to clear a Nicky Devlin backpass, and FCSB failing to make Graeme Shinnie pay after the Dons captain was lackadaisical in possession.

With just five minutes to go until half time and Aberdeen looking to go into the break with the tie still level, disaster struck in the most frustrating and cruelest of fashions. David Miculescu was sent through and beat the already booked Alexander Jensen to the through ball, falling to the ground and the ball hitting the arm of the Dane. The referee waved play on, but VAR intervened and perhaps unfairly, the referee pointed to the spot and gave Jensen his marching orders, before Darius Olaru tucked away the penalty to give the hosts the lead.

With the man advantage, the second half was all FCSB and they quickly made their dominance count. Adrian Sut picked up the ball from outside the area, and he ferociously struck the ball to fire it passed the Bulgarian in the Aberdeen net to double his side’s advantage who looked to be in a rush to make the UEFA Europa League.

Just on the hour mark, Aberdeen fans would have been forgiven if they started to watch the game from behind their couches, when Olaru netted his second of the evening with big thanks to a deflection. Fans across Scotland’s minds at this stage would have been fearing the worst for Aberdeen, given what happened to Rangers in their away tie last night, but the Reds stood firm to keep the scoreline at a minimum.

It was degree of inevitability that the Dons would end up in the Conference League and so it proved to be in the end, with FCSB taking the win overall.

FCSB: Tarnovanu 6, Cretu 7, Ngezana 7, Popescu 7 (Miculescu 3), Radunovic 6, Lixandru 6, Șut 8 (Chriches 2), Miculescu 6, Olaru 9 (Alhassan 5), Tanase 7 (Politic 3), Birligea 6 (Albec 2)

Aberdeen: Mitov 4, Devlin 5, Milne 5, Knoester 4, Jensen 2, Palaversa 6 (Yengi 3), Aouchiche 6, Shinnie 5, Keskinen 6 (Milanovic 3), Polvara 5 (Nilsen 4), Sokler 4 (Clarkson 5)