BOSS Derek McInnes claimed Aberdeen fans were mistreated by stewards after after Dons exited the Europa League qualifiers with a 2-0 defeat against Apollon Limassol at the AEK Arena.
A video on social media appeared to show some visiting fans clashing with stewards in the stand after the 3-2 aggregate loss in Cyprus.
Flares were lit early in the second half in the home section, with one thrown and landing inside the goal behind Aberdeen goalkeeper Joe Lewis.
Television caught Swiss referee Stephan Klossner telling an official that he would abandon the match if the behaviour did not cease.
It did calm down, but McInnes was unimpressed.
He told BBC Radio Scotland: “I have not spoken to Joe about it but you could see it was a difficult situation with the smoke covering that whole area.
“It is ridiculous behaviour, that we have to deal with that.
“It didn’t help the flow of the game in the second half but I don’t think he was damaged, I don’t think it affected him too much.
“We expected it to be a wee bit volatile and plenty of passion from the side but it did boil over at times.
“I am hearing our fans got treated terribly as well by the stewards here, steaming in with flares and tear gas and everything else to defuse the situation.
“I didn’t get to see it but I am hearing it second hand and you seen some of the stuff that was going on, things getting thrown on to the pitch, people spitting into the dugout, flares getting thrown on – that’s when you should have seen the stewards being more visible, not treating our fans the way they did.”
Aberdeen launch investigation after violence mars Europa League match
The Dons’ 2-1 lead from the first leg of the third qualifying round at Pittodrie was cancelled out and more in the 17th minute when Apollon attacker Andre Schembri fired in from 14 yards.
Aberdeen stepped up their efforts but home substitute Emilio Zelaya added a second in the 86th minute to sink the men from the Granite City.
McInnes said: “It was a real disappointment. They scored with their first ball in the box, really.
“We threw caution to the wind a wee bit and got done with the second goal.
“It was a missed opportunity for us.
“I don’t want to bleat too much about the opportunities we missed but we did have good chances.
“We don’t want pats on the back for being unlucky. We were beaten fair and square and I feel we have only ourselves to blame.”
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