Jimmy Thelin proud of Aberdeen after fightback to draw with FCSB

Jimmy Thelin was proud of Aberdeen’s players and supporters after they fought back from two down to draw 2-2 at home to 10-man FCSB in their Europa League play-off.

The tie looked to be slipping away from the Scottish Cup winners when the Romanian champions struck through Daniel Birligea and Darius Olaru either side of a 38th minute red card for Juri Cisotti.

Roared on by a packed Pittodrie crowd, however, the Dons pulled one back in the 61st minute through Dante Polvara before fellow substitute Ester Sokler headed an 89th-minute equaliser to ensure there is all to play for in the second leg in Bucharest next Thursday.

“I think the 12th player, our fans, today was the difference that gave us a chance now for the away game to go through to the Europa League,” said manager Thelin. “I’m really proud of that, how we created this atmosphere, because it’s so difficult to get this mentality and to score goals when you’re two down.

“I’m really proud of the players and our supporters because it’s a difficult task when you start the second half and give that (second) goal away within 50 seconds, but we still have this capacity to never stop believing.

“Of course, the goals we got against us were more about ourselves (mistakes) but they used the situations with top quality, they didn’t miss.

“We can’t give them these chances. I think we learned a lot about ourselves and now we have one week to prepare to do a much better, more stable performance.”

FCSB boss Elias Charalambous was frustrated that three of his players were forced to watch from the stand after Montenegrin Risto Radunovic, Ghanaian Baba Alhassan and South African Siyabonga Ngezana were not granted visas by the Home Office.

“I don’t know exactly what happened but the only thing that I can say is that things have to be solved easier,” he said. “We cannot ask for visas five, six days before and then we have no visas. We brought three players here and they had to watch the game.

“This is something that we have to find solutions for, not us but the people that are responsible. The players came here to play. If we knew that they would not play, they would not have travelled. We cannot change the decision now and we have to take it.”

Reflecting on the match, Charalambous added: “The team spirit we showed was amazing. Maybe the red card was unfair for my team but we have to respect it.

“The result could have been better but everything will be decided next week in Bucharest. I believe the game in Bucharest is 50-50.”