Liam McLeod
BBC Sport Scotland

FCSB have recent pedigree and in Romania striker Daniel Birligea they have a man who scored 21 times last season and has continued that form into this campaign.

In midfielder Juri Cisotti, they have a 32-year-old who is hitting his best in his twilight playing years, with FCSB owner Gigi Bicali confident the Italian could be the difference against the Dons.

Former Hearts and St Mirren defender Mihai Popescu has forced himself into the international reckoning this year during the latter part of his career.

The club waited nine years for league title success but have just gone back-to-back despite their troubles early on this term. Last year began in a similar fashion before they roared to the finish line with an unbeaten run of 24 matches.

Another recent addition to both FCSB and the national team has been striker Dennis Politic, who was brought in from Dinamo Bucharest in the summer and has already been seduced by the confidence of his chairman.

"It will be a tough match against Aberdeen," he said. "But the boys on the team beat much tougher opponents last year.

"We have to go modestly from the first match, motivated, so I don't think we will have any problems."

Image source, SNS

Hibernian head coach David Gray tells BBC Scotland: "They're a strong, physical side, as you'd expect. That comes with its own threat, but we knew we were going to face it. It's the final hurdle.

"Every game gets harder because of the prize at the end of it. We need to take positives and confidence from coming through the ties we've come through. We've learnt a lot about the group, been through some adversity already.

"This is another real tough test, but when we play to the level we can, we're a very good side as well. We'll have to do that again.

"This is why a lot of the players came here, to test yourself against top European teams. We can't go into it in any better form, any better frame of mind.

"The football club is in a really good place, and we need to enjoy that."

Image source, SNS

Aberdeen manager Jimmy Thelin tells BBC Scotland: "[Shayden Morris] is available for the next game, but we don't take any risks today - it's too early.

"It's going to be a typical cup game. We have to be very stable in performance.

"We are at home so we have to be strong in attacking them, but they are a good transition team so we need to be stable in that part and not give them anything.

"We believe in ourselves and focus on our qualities and what we can do."

Image source, SNS

Image source, SNS

Legia Warsaw are arguably Poland's most successful club, largely thanks to them winning the Ekstraklasa title seven times in nine years from 2012.

However, the last of those seven victories, in 2020-21, remains their most recent of their record 15 top-flight titles - and they finished fifth last season, 26 points adrift of champions Lech Poznan.

They sit fifth in the embryonic new Ekstraklasa season, losing their last league game against Wisla Plock after two wins and a draw to start their campaign.

They are in Europa Conference League qualifying because they lost 5-3 on aggregate over two legs against Cypriot side AEK Larnaca.

Their squad includes Poland midfielder Damian Szymanski, who is on the bench tonight.

Former Wolves and Everton left-back Ruben Vinagre also joined this summer, signing from Sporting in his homeland Portugal, and starts.

A visa issue has ruled three FCSB players out of tonight's Europa League play-off first leg with Aberdeen at Pittodrie.

Montenegrin left-back Risto Radunovic, South African centre-half Siyabonga Ngezana and Ghanaian midfielder Baba Alhassan have all made the trip to Scotland, but will now not be involved.

The trio had to stay at the team hotel on Wednesday night instead of training at Pittodrie before a final decision on the matter.

"We couldn't manage to fix the Visa for the boys - I don't know exactly the reason," manager Elias Charalambous tells BBC Scotland.

"But I believe these situations should be solved much easier especially for football games.

"It's the situation now, we have to find the solutions - there are no excuses from us."

The FCSB manager made it clear the players were not detained and says they were treated well by officials at the airport.

Liam McLeod
BBC Sport Scotland

Controversial FCSB owner Gigi Becali caused a bit of a stir in the north-east of Scotland after his club set up a Europa League play-off against Aberdeen.

Becali is so confident of his club progressing that he has apparently already accounted for the money his side will rake in for reaching the league phase of a tournament they performed well in last season.

Whether Dons boss Jimmy Thelin is the kind of manager who pins disparaging remarks made from the opposition camp to his changing room wall is unknown, but they have certainly added some edge to the tie.

Aberdeen v FCSB (19:45): The match will be shown live on the BBC. Coverage starts at 19:30 on the BBC Scotland channel, BBC Sport website and iPlayer.

Hibernian v Legia Warsaw (20:00): Listen to live match commentary on Sportsound. Build-up is already under way on BBC Radio Scotland Extra and Sounds.

Me. And you should be, too.

This outrageous goal from Kieron Bowie helped Hibs on their way to the Conference League play-offs.

He's been an absolute joy to watch this season and starts again tonight.

Unsurprisingly, David Gray has restored most of the team that have got Hibernian to this point in Conference League qualifying.

Jordan Smith returns in goal, Rocky Bushiri is at the heart of the defence, Chris Cadden is on the right and Josh Mulligan partners Dylan Levitt in midfield.

Up top, Kieron Bowie is restored to play alongside Martin Boyle.

The only slight surprise is Josh Campbell keeps his place, with Jamie McGrath on the bench. Thibault Klidje is also named among the substitutes, despite impressing in the win over Livingston.

The only change to the Aberdeen XI from the League Cup win over Morton comes on the wing.

Shayden Morris has lost his race to be fit (and he doesn't lose a race often) so Topi Keskinen comes in.

Mats Knoester is fit again but is on the bench along with new signing Kenan Bilalovic.

Image source, SNS

Hibernian: Smith, O'Hora, Bushiri, Iredale, Cadden, Mulligan, Levitt, Campbell, Obita, Boyle, Bowie.

Substitutes: Sallinger, Hanley, Youan, Manneh, Chaiwa, McGrath, Klidje, Cadden, Hoilett, Megwa, MacIntyre, Molotnikov.

Legia Warsaw: Tobiasz, Kapuadi, Wszołek, Augustyniak, Nsame, Vinagre, Bichakhchyan, Elitim, Ziółkowski, Jędrzejczyk, Kapustka.

Substitutes: Kobylak, Banasik, Burch, Alfarela, Reca, Żewłakow, Kun, Morishita, Rajovic, Stojanović, D Szymański, Urbański.

Aberdeen: Mitov, Jensen, Dorrington, Milne, Molloy, Palaversa, Heltne Nilsen, Milanovic, Aouchiche, Keskinen, Yengi.

Substitutes: Suman, Vitols, Devlin, Shinnie, Knoester, Polvara, Clarkson, Bilalovic, Boyd, Sokler, Lobban.

FCSB: Tarnovanu, Cretu, Graovac, M Popescu, Pantea, Sut, Chiriches, Miculescu, F Tanase, Cisotti, Birligea.

Substitutes: Zima, Kiki, Lixandru, Edjouma, Politic, Olaru, O Popescu.

Image source, SNS

Image source, SNS

It's over to Aberdeen and Hibs to rescue the week for Coefficient FC.

The Dons, already guaranteed a Conference League place as a safety net, welcome Romanian champions FCSB in the first leg of their Europa League play-off.

You'll be able to watch that live on the BBC.

Hibs, hoping for a Conference spot, are also at home. Legia Warsaw are the visitors to Easter Road.

You'll be able to listen to that live on the BBC.

Don't say we're not good to you.