Aberdeen – FCSB

The Scottish club will not be able to defeat the Romanian champion at their arena.

The upcoming European cup start will be the eleventh for Aberdeen in the last sixteen years. Despite the fact that in Scotland no one besides Rangers and Celtic has won the championship for decades, Aberdeen has relatively consistently participated in European cups due to finishing positions from second to fourth. This time, the club earned the right to compete in the playoff qualification of the Europa League by winning the national cup, where they defeated Celtic in the final match via a penalty shootout. Of the last ten European campaigns Aberdeen only managed to progress past the qualification stage in the previous one. Moreover, the Scottish team did not advance from the Conference League group in the 2023/2024 season. FCSB is a club significantly more accustomed to European cup successes. Last season, Steaua, starting as one of the underdogs in the general stage of the Europa League, managed to reach the round of 16 by passing one round in the playoffs. This European season, FCSB started again as the national champion in the Champions League qualification, but failed there. Bookmakers did not identify a favourite for the upcoming match, offering roughly equal odds for the opponents. Aberdeen finished fifth in last year's national championship, trailing the Cup of Scotland finalist Celtic by 39 points. Interestingly, Aberdeen lost their last four matches, and started the new season in the national league with two defeats. Thus, as of today, in the rather weak Scottish championship, Aberdeen has six consecutive losses. Even the fact that three of the six matches during this period were against Rangers and Celtic is a weak justification for such a series. FCSB faced Shkendija, the champion of North Macedonia, in the Champions League. Such an opponent did not seem insurmountable for the Bucharest club, but the rivalry did not go well and ended with two defeats. Upon entering the Europa League, Steaua already redeemed themselves with two victories over Drita, who also fell out of the Champions League qualification. Meanwhile, FCSB has not performed particularly well in the ongoing Romanian championship, but fans will forgive their club everything if they can achieve victory in Scotland.