Sparta Prague 3 Aberdeen 0: Three talking points as Dons finish second bottom of 36-team Uefa Conference League

Aberdeen hoped to Czech out of Europe with a bang in Prague, but exited with a whimper to finish second bottom of the 36-team Uefa Conference League.

Aberdeen’s game in Prague was a ‘dead rubber’ as they could not qualify for the knock-out phase prior to the clash in the Czechia capital.

All that was at stake for the Dons was pride after failing to win in Europe this season and a Uefa cash boost of £350,000 for a win.

Jimmy Thelin’s side failed to deliver on both counts!

Instead the Reds suffered the ignominy of finishing near the bottom of the 36-team league.

Granted they landed a nightmare draw, but the failure to get a win in eight games is damning.

The only positive is that Aberdeen did not suffer a complete collapse as they did in the 6-0 loss to AEK Athens in Greece.

But it was still a tough watch for the 1,800-strong travelling Red Army inside the 18,887 capacity epet Arena.

Around 3,000 fans travelled to Prague and those unfortunate not to get briefs watched it in bars across the city.

Sparta Prague grabbed the lead in the 17th minute when the defence backed off from challenging John Mercado, allowing him to shoot beyond Dimitar Mitov from 20 yards.

The goal stemmed from a poor kick-out by keeper Mitov which was straight to Sivert Mannsverk who instigated the move that led to the opener.

Lessons weren’t learned as the Dons again backed off for the second goal, allowing Lukas Haraslin to fire in a superb 22-yard drive.

Another defensive blunder led to the third when a slack pass by Jack Milne was punished, with Garang Kuol netting in the 66th minute.

Here are three talking points from the defeat in Prague.

European win drought continues

Aberdeen ended a disappointing European campaign without a win as the club’s uninspiring form on the continental stage continued.

This is boss Jimmy Thelin’s first season in Europe with Aberdeen but a side expensively strengthened in the summer transfer window to cope with Europe could not get a win in Prague, or in the seven previous matches.

Thelin signed 13 players in the summer and splashed out transfer fees of around £2million, but they failed to deliver a Euro win in eight matches.

Aberdeen crashed out of the Europa League at the play-off stage, losing 5-2 on aggregate to Romanian club FCSB.

They then struggled in the Conference League, raising questions about their ability to perform at this level.

Under-performing on the Euro stage is not a problem isolated to Thelin as previous managers have also struggled to deliver victories.

Aberdeen have won only once in 18 European games 2021, when they overcame Icelandic team Breiðablik home and away in the Europa League third qualifying round.

In those 18 games there have been one win, six draws and 11 losses.

The Reds have scored 19 goals and conceded 37.

Since 2021 the only win has came in the Uefa Conference League in December 2023 when beating Eintracht Frankfurt 2-0 at Pittodrie.

That game was also a ‘dead rubber’ as Aberdeen could not qualify for the next phase and Frankfurt were already through.

Aberdeen have aspirations of regular European football and making an impact at that level.

The harsh reality is they have struggled at that level for a number of years and must find a way to fix that for the next time they are in Europe, ideally next season.

And that will have to come from strengthening in future transfer windows.

No away Euro goals for Aberdeen

Aberdeen’s lack of cutting edge in attack when playing away in Europe this season has been a major Achilles heel that derailed any hope of progressing to the knock-out phase.

Chances are limited on the road in Europe and they must be taken, or face the harsh consequence

Away from home in Europe the Dons lost 3-0 to FCSB (Romania), were hammered 6-0 by AEK Athens (Greece), drew 0-0 with AEK Larnaca (Cyprus) and lost in Prague.

In all of those game they had chances to go ahead early on but blew them – and it was costly.

There has been a lot of time and expense outlaid by Dons fans in support of the Reds away in Europe this season.

However, they have been denied the joy of celebrating their team score on their Euro trips.

That need to be clinical in front of goal must be one of the harshest lessons learned  by Aberdeen in Europe this season.

Against Prague the attack was isolated and cut off, given limited service one the opener was scored.

Nightmare preparation for Celtic clash

Aberdeen boss Jimmy Thelin made four changes to the starting line-up in Prague from the side that beat Kilmarnock 2-1 at the weekend.

With the match in the Czechia capital effectively a dead rubber Thelin put out a squad to win, but there was also one eye on the trip to crisis-hit Celtic on Sunday.

Aberdeen have not won at Parkhead since May 2018 and with Celtic suffering turmoil on and off the park, there is an opportunity to end that winless drought.

Losing again in Europe is disastrous preparation for a game against a Celtic team in turmoil on and off the pitch.

The big change was the return to action of frozen out duo Leighton Clarkson and on loan Tottenham centre-back Alfie Dorrington.

Both have received limited game time recently and Prague marked the first game time for Clarkson in December.

Previously one of the Dons most important playmakers, he has fallen down the pecking order this season.

And that has prompted the possibility of Clarkson, contracted to Aberdeen until summer 2027, exiting the club in the January transfer window.

There was plenty of effort from Clarkson but he failed to stamp his authority on the game.

Operating on the right of the attacking three the former Liverpool midfielder was isolated for long periods.

If this is to be one of Clarkson’s final appearances it will be a low-key exit for such a talented player.

It was Dorrington’s first start since the 3-2 loss to Shakhtar Donetsk (Ukraine) on October 2.

In the other changes Graeme Shinnie and Dylan Lobban returned to the starting line-up with Nicky Devlin, Topi Keskinen, Stuart Armstrong and Alexander Jensen dropping out.

SPARTA PRAGUE (3-4-3): Vindahl 6; Sevinsky 6, Sorensen 6, Vydra 7; Kaderabek 6, Mannsverk 7, Eneme 6 (Sadilek 65), Zeleny 6 (Surchomel 86); Mercada 6 (Kuol 46), AI. Rrahmani 7 (Kuchta 65), Haraslin 7 (Birmancevic 86).

Subs not used: Milla, Panak, Penxa, Preciado, Rodriguez,  Surovcik, Kairinen.

ABERDEEN (3-4-2-1): Mitov 6; Dorrington 4, Milne 4, Knoester 5 (Gyamfi 65); Lobban 5, Aouchiche 5 (Palavrersa 86), Polvara 4 (Devlin 65), Shinnie 5 (Heltne Nilsen  86); Clarkson5 , Karlsson 5; Nisbet 4 (Lazetic 46)

Subs not used: Sumon, Vitols, Yengi, Milanovic, Armstrong, Jensen, Keskinen.

Referee: David Smajic (Slovenia)

Attendance: 15,343

Man of the match: Lukas Haraslin (Sparta Prague)

[Source: Press and Journal]