Reflected penalties in the last minutes and removal
The main event of the game day for Russian fans, of course, was the confrontation between Krasnodar and Porto. However, the match between Istanbul Bashaksehir and Olympiakos began almost simultaneously. It is with the winner of this pair in the next round that southerners can play if they qualify for the next round of the Champions League qualification.
In the first meeting, the Greek vice champion made a huge step towards success. The team from Piraeus for the most part of the match had the advantage and created moments at the gates of ambitious hosts, the colors of which, last season, were defended by the football player of the Russian national team Fedor Kudryashov.
And at the very beginning of the second half, Olympiacos naturally stepped forward. After the former Dynamo player, Mathieu Valbuena, took the ball into the goal sent by Georgios Masuros. Only after this “Istanbul” became more active and seized the initiative. At the same time, ten minutes before the final whistle, the hosts remained in the minority after midfielder Irfan Jan Kaveci received a second yellow card.
However, in the end, the main character was the Portuguese goalkeeper of guests Jose De Cea. He not only made several spectacular and important saves, but also repelled the 11-meter shot from Edin Vishchi already in the time added by the referee. Thus, the goalkeeper extended his “dry streak” in the Champions League to three matches and helped Olympiacos win a major victory and take a step towards the long-awaited return to the group stage of the tournament.
Cold shower for Basel
Perhaps the main sensation of the game of the day occurred in Switzerland, where the experienced European Cup fighter Basel lost to the silver medalist of the Austrian championship LASK. At the same time, guests for the first time in their history take part in the Champions League, if you do not take into account two games in the European Cup, back in 1965.
As a result, the debut meeting for the team from Linz was better than you can imagine. Under heavy rain wards Valerien Ismael twice hit the gates of a venerable opponent. First, Gernot Trauner in the debut of the second half jumped higher than everyone else on the corner, and then João Clauss De Mello sent the shell into the net thanks to a rebound.
The only thing that Basel succeeded in was to reduce the backlog to a minimum, and to do it beautifully. In the end, Luca Zuffy from the penalty line sent the shell exactly at nine.
By the way, fans of Spartak may well rejoice at the success of LASK, because the ex-defender of the red-white Emanuel Pogatets was involved in the victory of the Austrian club. The 35-year-old defender played in Russia in 2005, and was remembered for inflicting severe trauma on the young Shinnik footballer Yaroslav Kharitonsky, after which he was forced to end his career.
The fall of Maribor and a comfortable draw for Celtic
Rosenborg unexpectedly confidently beat Maribor away, although Slovenia's strongest team made their way to the Champions League group stage not so long ago, where it even took away points from Spartak.
This time, the wards of Darko Milanic meekly conceded three goals at once from a team from Trondheim, although the first half ended without goals. It is noteworthy that the double in the composition of “Rosenborg” was issued by 32-year-old striker Alexander Söderlund. Now on his account in the current season of the Champions League there are already four accurate hits. And before, the striker never scored in the main European competition.
As part of Maribor, the only goal scored by the 35-year-old Brazilian Marcos Tavares, who has been defending the team’s colors for 11 years. It is noteworthy that in 2017 it was his successful transfer that helped Maribor to avoid defeat in the last minutes in an away match with Spartak.
Well, “Rosenborg”, which has already passed the champion of Northern Ireland “Linfield” and the champion of Belarus BATE, has taken the next step in order to break into the group stage for the first time in 14 years.
Finally, in another match of the game of the day, the world champion of the Czech Republic CFR “Cluj” and the strongest team of Scotland “Celtic” parted. The teams exchanged goals scored in the first half. Mario Rondon, the forward of the Scottish team, replied to the goal of the namesake of the former striker Rubin and Zenit, forward of the Scottish team James Forrest. Thus, “Celtic” took away from Cluj a strategically important productive draw and will have an advantage over the return match.