Ant has Donjob on Juve
While Aberdeen are searching for a new boss, a former Dons star has been making waves by giving mighty Juventus a bloody nose.
Antoine Kombouare, who spent two years at Pittodrie between 1996 and 1998, earned huge praise after he led French side Nantes to a 1-1 draw with Juve in their Europa League play-off first leg in Turin.
Few gave Nantes any chance when they were drawn against the Serie A giants.
But the French cup winners fought back from going behind to Dusan Vlahovic’s opener to level through Ludovic Blas’ stunning finish on the hour mark.
Kombouare’s team could have gone on to win the first-leg tie but also had to survive a late scare when Juve were
awarded a 96th-minute penalty by VAR.
But Portuguese ref Joao Pinheiro ruled that Nantes defender Fabian Centenzone had been pushed to cause him to handle the ball when he looked at the incident on the pitch-side monitor and over-ruled the VAR officials.
Kombouare, who bossed French giants PSG for two years before being ousted by the new Qatari owners in favour of Carlo Ancelotti in 2011, knows his side still have a lot of work to do to make the next round.
Juve come to the Stade de la Beaujoire on Thursday night and the Nantes boss said: “They are a great team with great players.
“My players were heroic in Turin but if you want a great achievement you have to play for two games.
“The hardest part will be finishing the job on Thursday. Juventus are angry and I know we will suffer because they have the means to hurt us.
“The VAR thing was a worry but the referee made the right decision.”