Hello Aberdonians - as a fellow Scot, living in Bucharest. I’d like to share what information I can - which I hope may be of use, and indeed make for a smooth and enjoyable trip!

If anyone has any questions, about anything related to the City, FCSB, transport, nightlife, do’s and dont’s etc - please feel free to ask.

Airport Arrival/Transport in City:

There are 2 main options. Cheapest -Train directly outside arrival terminal to Gara De Nord (main train station in the city - and metro is linked from their too) Train is not as frequent (every 40 mins) but only 20 mins to Gara De Nord station and around 6 Ron (like £1.50)

Taxi - as soon as you exit the arrivals doors from getting luggage - on the left are ticket machines to get a Taxi number (all machines in English) and then you wait outside the terminal doors (a matter of yards away) and wait for your taxi number to arrive (registration of car is printed on your ticket) These are the AUTHORISED taxi companies and all on a meter (roughly 50/60 Ron (£10/15 to city centre) - DO NOT pay anything more than roughly that - if they ask for a lot more - make a fuss! But less likely if you take a registered taxi!

UBER/BOLT - possible, but not allowed to pick up outside terminal - so need to walk to pick up area outside of airport.

METRO SYSTEM:

It’s a good one! Cheap, reliable and frequent. Best way for getting around the city as traffic is busy in the daytime.

Tickets can be bought in all stations and as it’s so cheap - good option is to buy a ‘multi trip’ ticket for around (20 Ron) £5 and gets you 10 trips. 

NEAREST METRO Stations to Ground (walking distance)

Piata Iancului 

Piata Muncii 

Accommodation

Booking.com/Air BnB etc all available. 

In my eyes - two options (City Centre) nearest to Old Town - most expensive. Change metro line from Blue to Yellow 

Or slightly out of main centre but on best link to Ground via metro or taxi, plus near main Train Station (sector 1) - Options directly out of station are Ibis Gara De Nord and Hello Hotel (both main chains and you know what you’re going to get) - simple stuff!  Metro to the ground from this area is around 10 mins) (on yellow line)

Old Town or (Lipscani) Romanian name for area - is the busiest and most lively - but comes with highest prices and scammers etc! Good honest bar which is British owned is called Mojo - sport on TV, karaoke etc.

https://mojomusic.ro/

Option nearest the Train Station is arguably one of the best traditional Pubs in Bucharest - Dubliner Irish Pub. It’s the closest you’ll get to back home, quite a large ex-pat community of Scots too! A few Aberdonian’s working in the oil industry here. Multiple TV screens for sport - bespoke darts room (9 boards) great Irish Breakfast and pub food (cottage pie) Guinness, Kilkenny, Peroni, Ursus and Kozel on draught and then all the other usual spirits, shots etc. 

https://dubliner.ro/menu/

Piata Victoriei and Gara De Nord nearest metro stations to Dubliner Irish Pub and 10 mins to ground.

There’s a lot more could add - but this is for starters - please feel free to ask anything you want! 
 

Enjoy your trip and hopefully you’ll be going into it with a nice first leg lead!

 

 

•  

 

Anti football pish wins the day again. VAR will end football in a decade if this shite continues - which it will. I'd love it if we were a lot less accepting of it. Jensen kicking fuck out of the VAR screen at the side of the pitch on the way off. We just meekly accept this shite. 

While I don’t think it was a penalty I did think Jensen caught forward and probably should have got a yellow card for a foul outside box. 
 

VAR and handball rules are fucking awful. 

11 minutes ago, Jute said:

While I don’t think it was a penalty I did think Jensen caught forward and probably should have got a yellow card for a foul outside box. 
 

VAR and handball rules are fucking awful. 

Totally agree. Handball was unavoidable at the pace they were moving and the ball bobbles as striker lost footing 

I thought he touched the trailing leg but outside the box. I could've lived with that decision.

9 minutes ago, Jute said:

While I don’t think it was a penalty I did think Jensen caught forward and probably should have got a yellow card for a foul outside box. 
 

VAR and handball rules are fucking awful. 

The referee saw the possible foul, and didn't call it. There was no reason for VAR to intervene. The handball rules are awful, but they do not state that all connections with a hand are handball. 

Jensen was terrible 

BECAUSE 

HE'S 

NOT 

A

FUCKING 

LEFT 

BACK 

The above is aimed at Thelin, and the numerous Dons fans that think that he might be because he did it once in primary school.

Club need to call out the ref and UEFA. Laws of the game it’s not a handball. Far too close, and arm in a natural position. More importantly though the ref can’t issue a yellow following a VAR review for a routine yellow card offence. Only for simulation if they’ve originally given a pen (dissent) or downgrading a red to a yellow following review. Not sure how it’s possible to happen in the circumstances. Surely someone in the VAR team could have pointed out the error in the CR’s officiating?? 

Tried to watch the game at work on my phone, not overly successful, prob saw most of the first 50 mins. Thought we played well for the first 35, if sokler scores in the 2nd minute what a different game. And he should have scored. We struggled the last 10 and I said to myself we need ht.
Didn’t see the penalty live but really unfortunate. Jensen gets picked on, rightly or wrongly, but I’m a fan. He gave a good foul for his first booking by being physical, and was really unlucky for the penalty. I’m not clear on the rules, isn’t a penalty enough given it wasn’t an intentional foul (not even a foul, hand in a natural running position)? I thought they’d done away with a foul and a card and a penalty was punishment enough given the nature of the so called foul. Not sure why a yellow was given. Anywhere else on the field that may not have been a foul and is certainly not a card.

Second goal is a fine strike but where are our holding mids? Guy had a ton of time and space if I recall.

been said before, conference league prob best for us with perhaps more competitive games. We need a 9 and a few goals and wins to pick us up. Intrigued with the end of window signings plus keen to see Marko up top. 
Last point, Europa league finances would have been split with the old firm I think, hibs lose and conference league alone, must help us a little financially there??

3 minutes ago, baggy89 said:

Club need to call out the ref and UEFA. Laws of the game it’s not a handball. Far too close, and arm in a natural position. More importantly though the ref can’t issue a yellow following a VAR review for a routine yellow card offence. Only for simulation if they’ve originally given a pen (dissent) or downgrading a red to a yellow following review. Not sure how it’s possible to happen in the circumstances. Surely someone in the VAR team could have pointed out the error in the CR’s officiating?? 

Interesting……assuming you are correct, any similar situations where var has incorrectly sent a player off? Was var even looking for a hand ball in the first place, I couldn’t tell? As has been said, I thought they were reviewing a potential foul and whether it was in or outside the box.

12 minutes ago, baggy89 said:

Club need to call out the ref and UEFA. Laws of the game it’s not a handball. Far too close, and arm in a natural position. More importantly though the ref can’t issue a yellow following a VAR review for a routine yellow card offence. Only for simulation if they’ve originally given a pen (dissent) or downgrading a red to a yellow following review. Not sure how it’s possible to happen in the circumstances. Surely someone in the VAR team could have pointed out the error in the CR’s officiating?? 

Fairly certain the yellow is correct protocol. They hadn't given a penalty originally. 

However, the yellow card should be indication that the decision was stupidly incorrect. How on earth can you book a player for being hit by the ball? There's no way that the ref could have been comfortable with that. 

10 minutes ago, OrlandoDon said:

Was var even looking for a hand ball in the first place, I couldn’t tell? As has been said, I thought they were reviewing a potential foul and whether it was in or outside the box.

VAR checks everything, so yes they will have been checking. Nobody in the world would have thought that they were checking handball, which is why everyone thought they'd have been reviewing a foul (I couldn't hear the commentary in the boozer). Everyone watching the game will have seen it touching Jensen's arm in real time, or at worse on the replay, but nobody in their right mind would have thought they were checking for handball because it was such a fucking atrocious decision. I didn't even know it was given for handball until I saw a replay of the ref's signal during half time highlights. My mate had suggested it for a joke, but we all laughed it off. I just assumed that the non-foul was classed as inside the box.

As I understand it, it was given for handball.
Can’t think it would have been a yellow for foul outside the box that would be a red for stopping a goal scoring opportunity and that should have been issued first downgraded to yellow following VAR review for foul inside the box and pen (still ultimately a sending off I guess, if officiated properly). But if somehow he’s decided it was a foul in the box and a yellow card offence it’s still a routine foul, so can’t issue a yellow following VAR review. 

44 minutes ago, RicoS321 said:

Fairly certain the yellow is correct protocol. They hadn't given a penalty originally. 

However, the yellow card should be indication that the decision was stupidly incorrect. How on earth can you book a player for being hit by the ball? There's no way that the ref could have been comfortable with that. 

Just had a check of my ifab. Never going to ref at a high enough level to have VAR 😂. So never really looked at that part before. Think you are right because of the pen being a “game changing decision” ref then has to take appropriate disciplinary action. Still not a hand ball though…

Edited August 28, 2025Aug 28 by baggy89

1 hour ago, RicoS321 said:

The referee saw the possible foul, and didn't call it. There was no reason for VAR to intervene. The handball rules are awful, but they do not state that all connections with a hand are handball. 

Jensen was terrible 

BECAUSE 

HE'S 

NOT 

A

FUCKING 

LEFT 

BACK 

The above is aimed at Thelin, and the numerous Dons fans that think that he might be because he did it once in primary school.

I don’t think he is even best right back at club. 
 

Since summer seen a few handballs in European leagues that have been similar where any contact with the ball has been given as a penalty. The rules might not have changed but I think the directive to referees on how handball is judged has.  

6 minutes ago, Jute said:

I don’t think he is even best right back at club. 
 

Since summer seen a few handballs in European leagues that have been similar where any contact with the ball has been given as penalties. The rules might not have changed but I think the directive to referees on how handball is judged have. 

In Scotland, the refs were - at least a season ago - clearly told to wise up and stop giving pens every time it goes near someone's forearm in the box. I can't think of any good sporting reason as to why it would be changed - what happened tonight was clearly against basic fairness and sporting behaviour. Anti-sport, in other words. Which is exactly what VAR is (and European football I guess).

Woke up this morning with a fucker of a sair heid after my twenty hour day and drinking with locals in Greece watching that last night.

To a man everyone said that he penalty wasn't a penalty and I he card meaning being reduced to ten men was a fucking joke 

Have I mentioned before I think football as a sport is totally fucked.

Anyway bring on a couple of European away days in the coming weeks, where the actual ninety minutes of the game will be secondary to the trips themselves