It was hardly a Greek tragedy but Dundee United face a Herculean task to make it past AEK Athens in this Europa League play-off round tie.
A slick strike from Rafic Djebbour after only 11 minutes means the Tangerines will have to scale the heights of Mount Olympus to have even a hope of reaching the cash-rich group stages in the return leg next Thursday night.
In truth, the visitors dominated and the Tangerines toiled to live with their smooth passing and movement.
The scoreline may not have come as a surprise given AEK’s European pedigree, but it was still disappointing that the home fans in a tremendous 12,116 crowd weren’t given more to shout about.
Indeed, Tannadice was teeming with tangerine, excitement and anticipation as the teams strolled on to the park proud captain Jon Daly leading United out for the first time in a home competitive match.
The only empty seats could be found in the section above the 500 AEK followers, with that area the last to sell for segregation reasons.
Boss Peter Houston left a fair chunk of the spectators surprised by his defensive change, dropping Darren Dods to the bench and playing the versatile Sean Dillon at the centre alongside Garry Kenneth.
The thinking behind it was Dillon would give added pace to the backline, while young Keith Watson slotted into his vacated right-back role.
Other than that, it was as you were from the SPL opener against St Mirren on Saturday.Too much space for AEKIrishman Daly started out as a lone striker, with usual front partner David Goodwillie taking up a wide right position in a five-man midfield.
After an opening period where both teams were sussing each other out, the Greeks took a dramatic lead after 11 minutes.
Ignacio Scocco found too much space from a United perspective up the left wing and fed the ball to Panagiotis Lagos, who hit the byeline before squaring across goal.
It was the perfect delivery and the perfect finish at the back post by Djebbour, who slid in to shoot home in front of the Eddie Thompson Stand.
The home team may have been stunned but they got themselves up the park three minutes later, with Daly’s glancing header from a Goodwillie cross going over the bar.
The home players had been well warned about card-happy Croatian referee Marijo Strahonja but Craig Conway still picked up a daft booking for throwing the ball away after not receiving what he thought should have been a free-kick.
A long-range Daly shot didn’t trouble AEK goalie Sebastian Saja, and it was the same story as Kenneth nodded a Conway corner past the post.
There was cause for concern on 25 minutes when Paul Dixon and Athens’ Sanel Jahic clashed heads. Both players required lengthy treatment but made it back on to the park.Missed opportunitiesScocco, who had kick-started the move that led to the AEK goal, found himself a victim of the referee, cautioned for tripping Conway. The next name in the book belonged to Nikolaos Lymperopolous, Mr Strahonja losing patience after he had two goes at Conway.
Half-time arrived with United doing their best to attack the visitors but they needed to step up a level or two in order to even trouble AEK, whose lead looked comfortable as the teams trotted off.
AEK started the second half where they left off, well on top, and Leonardo’s drive from 25 yards looked to be slipping from Pernis’s grasp but the keeper eventually gathered the ball. Leonardo’s threat was quickly noted by United’s Prince Buaben, who was booked for a foul on the AEK midfielder.
The Tangerines needed to play more of their own game, attacking down the flanks and getting crosses into the box.
They were letting their opponents dominate them perhaps too much respect was being shown to a team with bags more European experience and Leonardo really should have put AEK two up on 55 minutes when given a free header inside the box, instead of making it easy for Pernis.
United’s fans had some cause for optimism when Keith Watson broke into space in front of the AEK box but his shot flew a couple of feet over.
Grigoris Makos was yellow-carded for chopping down Goodwillie before a Dixon corner from the left had Saja stretching to palm the ball away from Kenneth’s head.
Athens came within a whisker of adding to their tally when skipper Pantelis Kafes ghosted in only to miss Scocco’s cross by an inch.
Up at the other end, Conway found Daly in space 16 yards out. It was easily United’s best opportunity of the evening but the striker could only snatch at his shot and send the ball flying past the far post on 82 minutes.
Houston introduced sub Danny Cadamarteri for Robertson as they tried for a late rally, but there was only time left for Kenneth to attract a yellow card for dissent.