Bojan Miovski’s sensational late winner earned 10-man Aberdeen a 1-0 Viaplay Cup semi-final victory over Hibernian at Hampden Park.
The Easter Road side edged a scrappy first half and were denied an opener in the 49th minute when VAR ruled attacker Martin Boyle was offside before he had the ball in the Dons net.
Aberdeen defender Jack MacKenzie was sent off by referee John Beaton in the 75th minute for picking up a second yellow card for a silly push on Hibs defender Lewis Miller but just as it looked like the tide was turning towards Leith, Miovski broke clear three minutes later to drive in his 10th goal of the season, leaving Hibs kicking themselves.
The Granite City men will take on Rangers or Hearts, who play in Sunday’s other semi-final at the national stadium, in the December 17 final, and after riding their luck against Hibs, they may feel their name could be on the trophy.
Neither Aberdeen nor Hibs were in sparkling form going into the game.
Under Nick Montgomery, who was appointed Hibees boss in September, the Leith outfit were five matches without a win, albeit four were drawn, while Aberdeen’s midweek victory at Motherwell was their first in five matches.
Dons boss Barry Robson, part of the Pittodrie side who won the competition in 2014, brought in midfielder Connor Barron, with Dante Polvara dropping to the bench.
Hibs goalkeeper David Marshall replaced Jojo Wollacott, with left-back Jordan Obita, midfielder Joe Newell and Boyle also returning.
It was an untidy start to the game but in the eighth minute, as Hibs broke with pace and purpose, the back-tracking Barron did well to put Elie Youan’s intended pass to Boyle behind for a corner, the pressure ending when Youan scooped a shot from 12 yards over the bar when he ought to have at least hit the target.
Around 10 minutes later, Jair Tavares’ shot from an Obita cut-back was blocked by Dons defender Stefan Gartenmann for another corner which came to nothing.
At the other end, in Aberdeen’s first real foray, Miovski pulled the ball back for captain Graeme Shinnie but he failed to connect properly 12 yards from goal and the chance was lost.
The second half could only get better and within minutes of the restart Aberdeen right-back Nicky Devlin did well to clear a Miller cut-back for yet another Hibs corner which the Granite City side survived.
However, the Pittodrie defence was soon to be breached.
A long ball up the park from Hibs defender Will Fish was pulled out the air by the speedy Boyle before he raced on to knock it past Kelle Roos from 12 yards, but a lengthy VAR check ruled him offside and it was the Dons supporters who were cheering.
The game then sparked into life.
Hibs kept pushing and Roos made a fine save from Tavares’ angled-drive, and Dylan Vente’s goal-bound drive from a Youan pass hit Devlin and went behind for a corner and again the Leith side could not capitalise.
Barron made way for Polvara but soon the below-par Dons had more to worry about when MacKenzie, already booked for a foul on Miller earlier, chased after the Hibs defender to push him and receive a second yellow and a red from Beaton.
It looked ominous for Robson’s side but in sensational fashion, Miovski raced on to a Polvara pass and confidently beat Marshall with an angled-drive from 12 yards.
The Dons fans were in raptures and Miovski had another chance when he got through the Hibs rearguard but chipped past the post and then he was booked for going down too easily in the Hibs box under pressure from Fish.
Hibs pressed hard in the closing stages – substitute Christian Doidge sent a header wide – but seven added minutes could not bring a leveller and it was Aberdeen’s day.
Real Madrid hit Twente for seven, five-star Wolfsburg also win big
Real Madrid had six different goalscorers as they trounced Twente 7-0 in the Women's Champions League on Wednesday, while Wolfsburg beat Galatasaray 5-0.
Signe Bruun opened the scoring three minutes into the Group B encounter at the Estadio Alfredo Di Stefano, then Maria Mendez's header gave Madrid a 2-0 half-time lead.
Madrid, who had won one and lost one of their opening two games in the tournament, got a third through Naomie Feller five minutes into the second half, then Caroline Weir made it 4-0 with a brilliant free-kick.
Mendez headed home her second of the encounter shortly after the hour mark, while Oihane Hernandez and Carla Camacho got on the scoresheet late on to complete the rout.
The victory took Madrid second in the Group B standings ahead of Chelsea's trip to Celtic.
Wolfsburg were also convincing victors in Group A, getting off the mark for this season's competition as Rebecka Blomqvist scored a hat-trick in their 5-0 thrashing of Galatasaray.
The Bundesliga side – who failed to pick up a point or score a goal in their opening two matches – had a narrow 1-0 lead at half-time through Joelle Wedemeyer, before Blomqvist took centre-stage in the second period.
She tapped home after Janina Minge struck the crossbar, then added her second goal in the 77th minute and her third six minutes into stoppage time.
Vivien Endemann powered home a fifth for Wolfsburg one minute later, as they provisionally moved within three points of Lyon and Roma ahead of their meeting.
Taylor pleased with City's physical test during Hammarby win
Manchester City head coach Gareth Taylor was pleased with how his team stood up to the physical challenge of Hammarby in their 2-0 Champions League victory on Tuesday.
City's win extended their unbeaten start to the season, having won every game in all competitions following a 2-2 draw against Arsenal on opening day.
“Difficult game for us, physical challenge, a physical team in Hammarby. I think they outnumber us a little bit in terms of size, considering when you look at our midfield. But I thought the girls handled it really well," Taylor said after the game
“I thought we dominated the game. In the early parts we were just a little bit off in our final action. We just needed to speed up a little bit in terms of being on the end of it, and we spoke about that at half-time, and we score with Laura getting into that type of position we’d been talking about.
“[The physicality was something] we were prepared for, but dealing with it is a different thing. Having Bunny [Khadija Shaw] and Alanna [Kennedy] on the pitch, two of our more physical players, is really important, particularly for set-plays.
“At 1-0 we were defending a couple of scenarios like that, Yama [Ayaka Yamashita] making a really good save at one point. Then Aoba [Fujino] got the goal that maybe allowed us to change things up a little bit more, get some people off that we’d like to manage.
“I think the girls have dealt with it really well tonight. We expected it, we thought it would be difficult, and they rose to the challenge.”
The victory leaves City top of their Champions League group with a 100% record after three matches, three points above second-placed Barcelona.
Taylor had made changes to City's starting XI, with Lauren Hemp among the trio to drop out from the weekend and she did not feature in the squad. Ahead of their weekend game against Chelsea, who are second in the WSL, Taylor explained the reasoning behind Hemp's absence.
“We’ve just got an issue with Lauren that we just need to analyse a little bit further, that’s all," he said.
“It’s something that potentially happened in the Palace game [on 3 November]. She was able to play in the Tottenham game [last Friday] but wasn’t able to tonight, so we’ll just take a little bit longer to assess and find out more.
“Hopefully [she can play against Chelsea]. There’s an opportunity there, we’ll just have to take a moment tomorrow, have a good conversation and find out where we’re at with the medical staff.”
Al-Riyadh 0-1 Al-Nassr: Mane hands visitors bragging rights
Sadio Mane's first-half strike ensured Al-Nassr maintained their unbeaten start to the Saudi Pro League season with a 1-0 win over rivals Al-Riyadh.
He smartly finished from close range in the 41st minute, with his goal enough to seal the three points and move Al-Nassr up to third in the table.
Al-Nassr's threat grew as the first half went on, with Milan Borjan making a fine double stop to deny Ronaldo and Talisca once again before Mohamed Simakan struck the post on the rebound.
Mane would eventually break the deadlock in the 41st minute though, darting in front of his marker to meet Abdulrahman Ghareeb's low cross and rifle it into the roof of the net.
The Senegalese striker arguably should have doubled his tally before the break, but was denied by Borjan's stretching save when one-on-one with the Canadian.
Talisca should have wrapped up the points in the final three minutes, but he blazed over an empty net from close range, before having a late goal disallowed for offside.
Data Debrief: Derby delight for Al-Nassr
After drawing their last two matches, this win was a welcome result for Al-Nassr as they racked up their sixth victory of the season to close the gap at the top of the table to six points.
It is just the second time Al-Nassr have avoided defeat in their first 10 matches of a Pro League campaign, last doing so in 2013-14, when they won the league title.
They are now unbeaten in their last seven Pro League derbies (W4 D3), their longest such streak since a run of nine between 2018 and 2020.
This is the first time in eight such games that they have kept a clean sheet though, and limited their opponents to just five shots throughout.
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