It’s hard to believe a team can perform so poorly on such a big stage after working so hard to reach it. It’s like the Hollywood actor who waits for two years for his big break then fluffs his lines when the audition comes. Aberdeen may have got into the Europa League through the failure of Dundee United to secure its place but to lose 5-1 to Sigma Olomouc in the first leg at Pittodire was an outcome that no fan predicted.

The writing had been on the wall quite early for Aberdeen with the mysterious absence of Zander Diamond the clubs most senior defender. One claim from the club fans was that the defender was unhappy at being overlooked for the club captaincy and the injury was a reaction to the absence of its award. With his absence came gaping holes in the Aberdeen defensive unit with a makeshift midfielder Stuart Duff and a former striker Derek Young at right back. This patchwork defence was exploited to the full by Sigma Olomouc who proceeded to rip the Aberdeen defence apart in the second half of the game. 

For the second leg Aberdeen travelled to Moravia to play Sigma Olomouc. The club being 5-1 down from the home leg manager Mark McGhee had stated that he was wanted his team to go for it. However the actions of the players could not be further from the truth with the men in red going down 2 goals in less than 15 minutes. By half time it was 3-0 as mistake after mistake by the Aberdeen defence was punished by the Olomouc side. As the second half commenced Aberdeen again surrendered a penalty but this time Jamie Langfield the experienced Aberdeen goalkeeper saved the penalty low to his left.

There was no further scoring in the game but Aberdeen football club had experienced its worst ever result in European football competition. The result was also one of the worst experienced in European competitions by any Scottish team ever.