Steaua Bucharest owner Gica Becali launched an incredible attack on his own club captain after ordering him to be subbed off at half time in their derby game ahead of their trip to Aberdeen this week.
Aberdeen face the Romanian side in the Europa League play-offs with the first leg at Pittodrie ahead of a trip to the national stadium for the return.
But after the Dons eased through to the quarter finals of the Premier Sports Cup with a comfortable win at Morton, Steaua were being held to a 2-2 draw with city rivals Rapid to leave them floundering in 13th place out of 16 after just one league win in six games in the Romanian league.
Madcap owner and president Becali - the former politician who was jailed for three years after a corruption scandal 12 years ago - makes no secret of his policy to personally pick the team and make substitutions.
And he made clear why he hauled off his own captain, Romanian international Darius Olaru, at the break.
He said: "He lost all his duels.
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"And if you lose all your tackles, you can't play for us.
"It was better for him to come off so he could recover.
"And he also made a mistake.
"It didn't matter if we were attacking or defending, he lost all his battles.
"But his replacement, Baba Alhassan, was fantastic.
"Olaru needs to recover from that, because he is our main player.
"If we want to do something in Europe, it is difficult without Olaru."
