So Aberdeen blow a farewell kiss to their 2023/24 European campaign, and it will not be one whose results will jump off the pages of the club’s history books.
But behind the bare numbers there lies a story of wholehearted effort, peppered with memorable moments to ensure its mark was made.
Plenty more here, headlined by – but not limited to – two excellent goals.
The exceptional technique of Jamie McGrath’s description-defying free kick will be the iconic image of the match, and fair enough.
To strike a ball over the wall and right into the bottom corner of the back of the net, from a full 30 yards, without it ever ascending above the height of the crossbar is a rare skill indeed.
But let it not overshadow the quality of Duk’s tone-setting opener, a masterclass in awareness and body control. His shape and balance prised open the narrowest window of opportunity; his shooting boot shoved the ball through it before it thumped shut.
Jamie McGrath, that is a BEAUTY 🤩#UECL pic.twitter.com/UlRHiZOLI5
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) November 9, 2023
Aside from a couple of frustrating, avoidable lapses, there were rarely any such shafts of light visible through an Aberdeen defence which did an outstanding job of protecting its goal.
As the clock ticked into stoppage time at 2-2, the atmosphere was notably different to that at Pittodrie: then a foreboding caused by the sickening sequence of events to that point; now a certainty that the Dons would not permit their hard work to be for nothing again.
It seemed to matter not that, materially speaking, Aberdeen in fact needed to force a winner of their own to keep any chances of qualification from a fiendish group alive.
In seeing out the final whistle – and burying the ghost of the reverse fixture – it felt like job done, with justified plaudits an acceptable substitute for tangible reward.
