Sparta Prague stamped their ticket to the UEFA Conference League last 16 by beating Aberdeen 3-0, whose league phase campaign ended with a third successive H2H defeat by a 3+ goal margin against Czech sides.
A miserable Conference League campaign had seen Aberdeen go winless through the opening five rounds, and they were staring down the barrel of a winless campaign inside the opening 20 minutes.
Visiting a Sparta side gunning to secure their top-eight spot was always likely to be a tall order, and their task was made even more difficult on 16 minutes when John Mercado stepped in off the right and arrowed a left-footed effort into the far corner.
There was an eerie sense of Déjà vu around Sparta’s second too, as this time Lukáš Haraslín drifted in from the right wing and rifled an effort into the same corner Mercado found earlier.
Sparta were toying with Aberdeen for most of the half, and some showboating on the stroke of HT almost yielded their third of the evening. Pavel Kadeřábek kept the ball alive on the byline and his teasing cross was acrobatically volleyed goalwards by Sivert Mannsverk, who watched on with angst as it flashed narrowly wide of the post.
It was largely one-way traffic towards the Aberdeen goal for most of this game, with the Scottish surviving two early scares after the restart as Haraslín first curled an effort wide of the target before Albion Rrahmani headed straight at Dimitar Mitov with the goal at his mercy.
Substitute Garang Kuol tested Mitov once more soon after his introduction, but not to be denied twice, he managed to get his name on the scoresheet soon after.
Aberdeen’s attempts to play out from the back proved to be their downfall as they turned the ball over in their defensive third and were punished in brutal fashion when Jan Kuchta found the unmarked Kuol at the back post, and he made no mistake in hammering beyond a desperate Mitov.
It took Aberdeen until after the 80th minute to even get close to Sparta’s goal, and even when they did, Marko Lazetić could only curl an effort wide of the far post.
Sparta heeding Aberdeen’s plea for mercy and ending the scoring at three was about the only win of the evening for Jimmy Thelin’s side, who suffered the ignominy of footing up the league phase. Sparta secured safe passage to the last 16, and few would be surprised given their unbeaten home run in Europe now stands at six matches.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Lukáš Haraslín (Sparta Prague)
Catch up on all the match stats with Flashscore by clicking here