Gica Becali in Aberdeen rematch meltdown as madcap FCSB chief fillets three struggling stars
The Romanians go into the Europa League second leg having won just five of their 15 games in all competitions so far this season
FCSB chief Gica Becali has sensationally ripped into three of his struggling stars ahead of their Europa League play-off second leg showdown with Aberdeen - accusing one player of SLEEPING on the pitch.
The Romanian side raced into a 2-0 lead at Pittodrie last week before Juri Cisotti's straight red card opened the door for Jimmy Thelin's men to salvage a draw courtesy of goals from Dante Polvara and Ester Sokler.
The winner of the tie will progress to the revamped group stage of the Europa League, with the losers dropping into the same section of the Conference League.
While Aberdeen decided to postpone their Premiership clash with Dundee United on Saturday to give them extra preparation time for the return fixture in Bucharest, FCSB's miserable start to their league campaign continued with a defeat to FC Arges.
The 2-0 loss was the 1986 European Cup winners' fourth defeat in seven matches so far this season and leaves them in 13th place, 15 points off the top.
And controversial owner and ex-politician Becali - who is known to take team selection on the pitch into his own hands - has singled out trio Denis Alibec, Dennis Politic and Octavian Popescu ahead of the visit of the Dons on Thursday.
He told Digi Sport: "Football is played like a man, at speed. I made a mistake too. Rather than putting Politic in, who doesn't play anything, it's better to leave (Darius) Olaru in.
"He'll still play something. It's better to leave Cisotti in, who's always doing something, than Octavian Popescu. Another mistake I made was that (Mamadou) Thiam was supposed to play at the beginning. They told me that Thiam was tired, that he just arrived.
"You can't win a match with just one player on the field, with (Florin) Tanase. He can't be the only one playing on the field. (Mihai) Toma and (Mihai) Lixandru also played. But you can't win a match with Tanase, Toma and Lixandru.
"Look at Alibec! Go, go, go! That's why I hired you, to score a goal. You can't get away with the goalkeeper alone and not score a goal.
"This is a man's sport, it's not about playing tricks with the ball.
"You can't sleep on the field and be a footballer (about Politic). I don't know if Politic is a footballer. If you sleep on the field, it's not good.
"It's better to play with 10 than to play with Politic! And rather than Octavian Popescu coming in, it's better to play with 10. There is no excuse! You can't let FC Argeș beat you!"
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