Aberdeen fought back from two goals down against ten-man FCSB to give themselves a fighting chance of reaching the Europa League group stage, but they will be kicking themselves all the way to Romania after their costly defensive lapses.
Jimmy Thelin’s first European game as Aberdeen manager saw the Scottish Cup holders give away a pair of horrific goals to Daniel Bîrligea and Darius Olaru after defensive mix-ups.
FCSB had been reduced to ten men after Juri Cisotti for a lunge on Nicolas Milanovic in the first half.
But the Dons deserve credit for throwing everything at the Bucharest team and sub Dante Polvara reduced the deficit to set up a grandstand finish with wave after wave of attacks going towards the Red Shed.
Fellow sub Ester Sokler levelled in the last minute with Polvara seeing a header saved deep into added time which could have seen the Scots take an unlikely lead to Romania.
And while the task look ominous next week, there was plenty of encouraging signs Aberdeen could take with them to the national stadium of Romania next Thursday if they can avoid losing such shocking goals.
FCSB celebrate after Daniel Bîrligea had opened the scoring at Pittodrie
It was Dons manager Jimmy Thelin’s first European match in charge of the Pittodrie club
After going two goals down, Aberdeen fought back with Polvara reducing the deficit
Thelin threw something of a surprise with his line-up when he kept faith with Gavin Molloy at left-back instead of club captain Graeme Shinnie. New signing Kenan Bilalovic was on the bench, with the injured Shayden Morris out, for Topi Keskinen, the only change from Saturday’s Premier Sports Cup win at Morton.
FCSB suffered a blow ahead of the game when they failed to get work permits for African duo Siyabonga Ngezana, Baba Alhassan and Risto Radunovic from Montenegro.
Certainly, there had been no shortage of noise from Romania about how this should be a straightforward tie for them.
Dennis Politic and David Miculescu both predicted that eliminating Aberdeen from the Europa League would be ‘no problem’ for them. And eccentric owner Giga Becali had dismissed the Dons by stating he knew very little about them and was busy counting the £12million he estimated his side would make by reaching the league stage of the competition.
Both clubs had their European glory days of course in the 1980s. FCSB, then known as Steaua Bucharest, famously won the European Cup in 1986 – three years after Aberdeen had lifted the European Cup Winners’ Cup.
In fact, when Steaua famously beat Terry Venables’ Barcelona in the final on penalties, Aberdeen reached the quarter-finals that season and lost to IFK Gothenburg, who were in turn eliminated by Barca in the semis, before Steaua won the final in Seville.
They have been officially known as FCSB since 2017 these days after a messy inter-club war, but those glory days seem a long way away this season after they lost in Andorra to minnows Inter Club d’Escaldes in the Champions League, and although they qualified on aggregate, they were eliminated by North Macedonian outfit Shkendija after losing home and away.
Abredeen started on the front foot and striker Kusini Yengi had a great chance to give the hosts a sixth-minute lead when he just failed to get on the end of a swinging cross from Ante Palaversa with the ball seeming to travel between his legs.
Polvara had come on as substitute in the second half and helped turn the game
Fellow substitute Sokler then grabbed a later equaliser to ensure a first-leg draw
But there was always a suspicion FCSB were handy on the break and they punished the naive Dons with their first real chance in the 32nd minute.
Jack Milne and Molloy seemed to hesitate going for the same ball and that allowed David Miculescu to burst forward. He teed up Birligea, with Dons full-back Alexander Jensen stranded out of position and the striker easily sent Dimitar Mitov the wrong way.
But the Romanians and their 700-strong support were silenced five minutes later when the visitors were reduced to ten men after Cisotti scythed down Milanovic who was trying to make a break forward in his own half.
It was a nasty one, but whether it quite merited a red was open to debate. No-nonsense Dutch ref Serdar Gozubuyuk didn’t hesitate to send him off and VAR agreed.
But Aberdeen did little with the extra man advantage in a half where they failed to even win a corner and Palaversa’s added-time effort, straight at keeper Stefan Tarnovanu, was their first effort on target.
They desperately struggled to create chances against the well-organised visitors, although it didn’t help that no Aberdeen winger or full-back seemed prepared to take their man on and deliver a cross.
There was the unusual spectacle of a triple sub apiece at half time with Leighton Clarkson, Sokler and Mats Knoester all coming on, but it led to a quite catastrophic start as Aberdeen went two goals down almost immediately.
Knoester and Molloy got in each other’s way and allowed Birligea to take the ball and square to half-time sub Olaru to net from close range.
Aberdeen finally found a way back into it in the 62nd minute when Polvara, who had been on just three minutes, turned and swept home a deflected shot from Keskinen that landed in his direction in off the post.
Fellow sub Sokler glanced a header just wide and suddenly there was huge belief sweeping round the old stadium before the Slovenian failed to get a good enough connection right in front of goal as the hosts chased the leveller.
They finally got it in the final minute after swarming the visitors in the closing stages when Sokler headed in a Palaversa corner.
Polvara then saw a header saved at the death by Tarnovanu just when it looked like a famous victory would be secured.