Europa League team go instantly viral as 'worst kick-off routine in history' goes horribly wrong

A kick-off routine dubbed "the worst in history" took place during last night's Europa League clash between FC Midtjylland and FC Steaua Bucharest – and the unfortunate scenes have gone viral.

Danish side FC Midtjylland travelled to Bucharest on Thursday, just days after the Superliga leaders suffered a humiliating 5-1 defeat to Brondby.

It has been a tough start to the month for Thomas Thomasberg's side, and things didn't get much better in Romania as the visitors suffered their first defeat of the Europa League campaign.

Florin Tanase opened the scoring for Steaua Bucharest with 15 minutes on the clock before Daniel Birligea made it two in the opening stages of the second-half.

In fact, the home side netted just seven seconds after the restart following a quite frankly disastrous kick-off routine. Check it out below:

The worst kick off in history surely 😂 pic.twitter.com/pngbqY4HgV

— The Footy Section (@FTBLsection) November 7, 2024

As you can see from the footage above, the ball was passed back to Elias Rafn Olafsson from the centre-circle but the goalkeeper's attempted clearance was blocked by Birligea.

Moments later, the Romanian forward netted from close range as viewers watched on, stunned at what they had just witnessed.

Here's how fans on social media reacted to the scenes.

One said: "This is exactly how NOT to do the Brentford kick off. Also shows exactly what teams try and do by pressing the keeper as soon as possible. That first pass is so crucial. Weight of the pass has to be spot on, or teams will catch you."

A second wrote: "Turns out the Brentford boffins might not have "solved kick-off" after all."

A third commented: "They liked hearing our goal music four times that they made it their own," and a fourth said: "Gets better every time you watch it."

A fifth added: "Keep it tight at the back and we might get something... three seconds later:"

FCSB went on to secure all three points with the 2-0 win as they climbed to eighth in the Europa League group stage table. Midtjylland, meanwhile, fell down to 13th with two wins from their opening four games.