Eintracht Frankfurt 2-1 Aberdeen: Dons fall to opening defeat in Germany

Aberdeen’s Europa Conference League campaign began with a battling defeat away to Eintracht Frankfurt, despite a much-improved display.

Barry Robson’s side continued to hold their own against the German side, but Robin Koch’s glancing header midway through the second half saw the hosts take all three points.

When Marmoush swept home from the spot in the 11th minute, one feared that Aberdeen could be in for a long night, but they were undaunted by the early concession, and hit back with a wonderful goal.

Bojan Miovski drove into space, released the marauding Nicky Devlin down the right, and the Aberdeen wing-back found the unmarked Polvara, who made no mistake from close range, lashing the ball into the roof of the net.

From there, Robson’s side more than held their own. There was a stunning save from Kelle Roos to deny Paxton Aaronson, but Aberdeen went in at the break deservedly level.

Eintracht made changes at the interval, but continued to lack fluency in the opening stages of the second half. However, Koch lost Slobodan Rubezic from a Fares Chaibi corner and glanced a header into the far corner to put the hosts back in front.

The second goal saw Eintracht take more of a grip on proceedings, but there were still moments in the game for Aberdeen, and they could have snatched a point right at the death.

The ball found its way through to Ester Sokler at the back post, but the forward couldn’t hit the target, volleying wide with the home defence helpless.

Player of the match – Nicky Devlin

Courageous Aberdeen show signs of progress – Analysis

Tyrone Smith, BBC Sport Scotland at the Deutsche Bank Park

Barry Robson will have learned a lot about his Aberdeen players tonight, as they showed bucket loads of character and courage.

Written off by virtually everyone going in to this game, they could have gone under when Frankfurt took the early lead – but they didn’t, they stood up and were counted to a man, clearly rattling their illustrious hosts.

Yes, Frankfurt prevailed in the end, but given all the talk pre match about the supposed gulf between the sides, Aberdeen can certainly leave Germany with their heads held high.

Robson got his tactics spot on tonight – he will be hoping his side can now take the positives from this game forward as they seek to revive their stuttering domestic campaign over the coming weeks.

What’s next?

Aberdeen return to domestic action against Ross County at Pittodrie on Sunday (15:00 BST).

Their next Conference League outing is against HJK Helsinki at Pittodrie on 5 October.

The Finnish champions opened their Group G account with a 3-2 home win against Greek side PAOK.