Aberdeen Euro campaign ends in self-inflicted defeat as final league table provides small mercy

Aberdeen may be the form team in the Scottish Premiership right now – they’ve taken 14 points from their last six matches – but their European campaign didn’t get any better in Prague on Thursday night.

Jimmy Thelin’s side completed their Conference League fixtures with a 3-0 defeat against Sparta, meaning the Dons lost four of their league-phase games and drew two. They picked up just two points from their six matches to finish a disappointing 35th in the standings and exit the competition.

In fairness to Aberdeen, the fixture list was very unkind to them. A glance at the final 36-team table shows that they came up against five of the top eight automatic qualifiers – Strasbourg (1st), AEK Athens (3rd), Sparta Prague (4th), Shakhtar Donetsk (6th), and AEK Larnaca (8th). Noah also progressed through to the play-off round by finishing 19th.

Sivert Mannsverk of Sparta Praha battles for possession with Aberdeen skipper Graeme Shinnie. (Photo by Gabriel Kuchta/Getty Images) | Getty Images

But ultimately Thelin’s side were undone by shoddy defending and profligacy in attack – and it was the same again in the Czech capital.

The visitors started strongly in front of their noisy travelling supporters and were passing the ball around with confidence – but then shot themselves in the foot on 16 minutes.

Goalkeeper Dimitar Mitov kicked a poor clearance straight to Sivert Mannsverk. The ball worked its way to John Mercado and the Ecuadorian cut in from right flank, skipped past Graeme Shinnie and fired a decent shot into the far corner. Mitov barely moved.

No Scottish club have ever beaten Sparta in Prague and that record seemed safe even before the half-hour mark, when the hosts doubled their advantage. From Aberdeen’s point of view, it was again self-inflicted.

Leighton Clarkson’s headed clearance from a corner was poor and Sparta picked up possession too easily. Skipper Lukas Haraslin cut in from the same right flank that Mannsverk had when he opened the scoring, and fired a left-footed shot that fizzed past Mitov.

Santiago Eneme of AC Sparta Praha is challenged by Adil Aouchiche of Aberdeen. (Photo by Gabriel Kuchta/Getty Images) | Getty Images

Mitov redeemed himself slightly on the stroke of half-time when he spread himself to deny Albion Rrahmani – the ball was deflected over the bar by the goalkeeper’s head – and the players at least trudged off only two goals down.

Sparta made it 3-0 midway through the second half though and, yes, it came directly from another Aberdeen mistake. Centre-half Jack Milne inexplicably passed the ball straight to Haraslin and it finished up at the feet of Garang Kuol on the edge of the six-yard box. Kuol – who made eight appearances for Hearts during a loan spell in 2023 – fired high past Mitov.

The game more or less fizzled out after that. This wasn’t the six-goal humiliation Aberdeen suffered at the hands of Athens in Greece earlier in the competition but there certainly wasn’t much for the travelling fans to cheer.

Their first real attempt of note came on 81 minutes when substitute Marko Lazetic, on for fellow striker Kevin Nisbet, curled an effort wide of goal from around 22 yards. It was one of only three shots the Dons mustered across the 90 minutes.

A wee boost did come after full-time – news that an injury-time goal for Zrinjski Mostar against Rapid Vienna had moved the Dons from rock bottom up to 35th in the final Conference League table. The Austrians dropped to 36th.