A disastrous European week for Scottish clubs on Thursday ended with the three teams in UEFA Europa League and UEFA Europa Conference League playoff second-leg action losing.
Aberdeen wasted a string of chances as they went down 3-1 at home to Swedish champions BK Hacken to go out 5-3 on aggregate in the Europa League.
In the Europa Conference League, Heart of Midlothian lost 4-0 in Salonika, Greece, to PAOK to go down 6-1 on aggregate. Hibernian subsided 3-0 at Aston Villa, outclassed 8-0 over two legs by the English Premier League team.
Photo: AP
Rangers on Wednesday lost 5-1 in Eindhoven as they went out of the UEFA Champions League 7-3 on aggregate to PSV.
In an end-to-end match at Pittodrie, Ibrahim Sadiq made the difference in what he said after the final whistle was his final game for Hacken.
Sadiq put Hacken ahead after 14 minutes, slashing in a shot from outside the penalty area. He doubled the lead on the counterattack after 41 minutes, chipping goalkeeper Kelle Roos from close range.
Bojan Miovski, the most wasteful of the Dons strikers, and Amor Layouni exchanged second-half penalties.
“We did what we had to do,” Sadiq told the BBC.
Hacken had never made it past the qualifying rounds in Europe.
“It’s history for us,” Sadiq said, before adding that he would be heading to AZ in the Netherlands. “It is my last game for Hacken and I am really proud that I have done my part.”
In Moldova, Armel Zohouri scored with 16 minutes left as Sheriff edged KI 2-1 and 3-2 on aggregate. KI drop down to the Europa Conference League where they will become the first Faroese team to play in the group stages of a European competition.
In the Europa Conference League, CA Osasuna threw away a lead away to Club Brugge KV, drawing the match 2-2 and going out 4-3 on aggregate.
Eintracht Frankfurt and ACF Fiorentina both did exactly what they had to do, as they won 2-0 at home after stumbling away.
In Frankfurt, Jessic Ngankam, a 70th-minute substitute, put the hosts ahead in the 79th minute against Levski Sofia. Tunisian Ellyes Skhiri sealed a 3-1 aggregate win with four minutes left.
Fiorentina left it late against Rapid Vienna. Argentine Nicolas Gonzalez leveled the tie on the hour and then he won the game in the last minute with a penalty.
AZ eliminated SK Brann 6-5 on penalties after coming from two goals behind twice to secure a 3-3 draw in Norway that left the teams tied on 4-4.
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