Tough victories of Tottenham and Milan and the departure of two Ukrainian teams: what will be remembered for the third round of the Europa League selection

Difficult trip to Macedonia for Mourinho and Haikin's game at San Siro

Russian fans waited with great interest for the confrontation between Rostov and Tottenham in the Europa League playoff round, but it was not destined to take place, since the yellow and blue houses sensationally lost to Maccabi from Haifa.

But the English team with great difficulty passed the modest Macedonian “Shkendia” away.

However, Jose Mourinho's charges at the previous stage experienced serious problems in the confrontation with the Bulgarian Lokomotiv and went further only thanks to goals from Harry Kane and Tangay N'Dombele in the end.

In Skopje, Erik Lamela opened the score in the fifth minute.

However, after the break, the guests relaxed and allowed the inferior opponent in the class to restore the status quo on the scoreboard.

Valmir Nafiu scored a beautiful long-range strike.

To snatch victory, Mourinho had to release Kane, Giovani Lo Celso and Lucas Mouru on the field.

As a result, the English striker put an end to the match in the end - 3: 1.

And the decisive goal was scored by Son Heung Min, who set poker in the recent Premier League match with Southampton.

And Milan, left without Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who was diagnosed with the coronavirus, took the Norwegian Bodø-Glimt with the Russian goalkeeper Nikita Khaikin.

The ex-goalkeeper of "Kuban" and "Mordovia" eventually appeared on the field of the "San Siro" stadium from the first minutes.

The guests tried not to concede to the opponent in anything and opened the scoring already in the 15th minute.

Kasper Juncker closed the cross from the left flank.

The hosts bounced back in a reciprocal attack.

Hakan Chalhanogu scored a beautiful long-range strike.

And after half an hour of the game, Haikin's goal from close range was struck by 18-year-old Lorenzo Colombo, who was playing only his third match for Milan.

This goal was his debut in his adult career.

Finally, at the beginning of the second half, Chalhanoglu scored a double after a corner kick.

But the Bodø-Glimt footballers did not give up and five minutes later reduced the gap to a minimum thanks to a beautiful long-range shot by Jens Høuge.

But the Khaikin team did not have enough strength to recoup.

The main surprise of the game day was the defeat of the French "Reims" from the Hungarian "Fehervar".

The team, representing one of the strongest European championships, in regulation time did not manage to hit the opponent's goal, and at the end of overtime remained in the minority.

The second yellow card was given to Thomas Focke.

As a result, the fate of the confrontation was decided in a penalty shootout, in which the team from Hungary turned out to be stronger.

Victory step of Portugal and departure of two Serbian teams 

Also, only in the penalty shootout was the winner of the match between Turkish Besiktas and Portuguese Rio Ave determined.

The Istanbul team took the lead in the 15th minute after the goal of Guven Yalcin.

The guests managed to win back only in the very ending.

In the post-match "lottery", they realized all four of their attempts, while the opponent - none.

Lisbon “Sporting” also made it to the play-off round, defeating the Scottish “Aberdeen” with a minimum score.

Thus, Portugal, which ranks sixth in the UEFA coefficient table, has not yet lost a single representative in the European competition, while Russia - two.

The gap between the countries has already reached almost five points.

The game day was not very successful for Serbia either, as Partizan and Vojvodina were eliminated from the European cups.

In the previous round, the team, in which midfielder Bibras Natkho is well-known to Russian fans, beat Sfintul Gheorghe with a minimum score in extra time.

This time the Belgrade team played out to overtime in the match with the Belgian "Charleroi", but were defeated - 1: 2.

Voyvodina also met with an opponent from Belgium - Standard, and also suffered a defeat in extra time with a similar score - 1: 2.

The winning goal in the 91st minute was scored by Selim Amalla.

Finally, one cannot fail to note the serious staffing problems that Steaua faced before the match against Czech Slovan.

The day before the match, the Romanian team was left with nine field players and three goalkeepers due to the outbreak of the coronavirus.

The club had to urgently sign contracts with two experienced footballers, as well as bring up the youth.

As a result, Steaua was still defeated, conceding two unanswered goals after the break.

At the same time, the Romanian team had to play in the minority for 70 minutes after the removal of 20-year-old Stefan Tsan.

Six conceded goals by Dynamo and zero shots by Lokomotiv 

On the whole, the game day turned out to be unsuccessful for teams from the post-Soviet space.

Only "Ararat-Armenia" and "Flora" managed to get into the play-off round.

The champion of Armenia with a minimum score beat Slovenian “Celje” at home.

The only goal in the 111th minute was scored by the Ukrainian defender Serhiy Vakulenko, who scored the decisive goal in overtime and in the previous stage match against Luxembourg Foul (4: 3).

“Flora” beat “Floriana” Maltese in a penalty shootout.

At the same time, the opponents did not manage to distinguish themselves from the game in 120 minutes.

Thus, the team from Estonia, for the first time in seven years, made it to the playoffs of the LE, where they will play with Dynamo Zagreb.

Failures awaited the rest of the post-Soviet space.

The most painful defeat was suffered by the champion of Georgia "Dynamo".

Tbilisi residents were considered the clear favorite of the confrontation with the semi-amateur “KI Klaksvik”, but they managed to suffer a crushing defeat - 1: 6.

The success of KI Klaksvik is truly historic, as the team representing the Faroe Islands has made it this far in European competition for the first time.

But the Tbilisi Lokomotiv, which knocked out the Moscow Dynamo from the fight at the previous stage, looked much more worthy in the away match with the Spanish Granada.

Moreover, the hosts were able to open an account only at the beginning of the second half.

And they put an end only in extra time - 2: 0.

At the same time, the railroad workers did not strike a single blow for the entire game.

Ukraine lost two representatives in the Europa League at once.

Kolos from Kovalevka in extra time lost to Croatian Rijeka (0: 2), and Desna from Chernigov lost to German Wolfsburg with a similar score.

Finally, the champion of Moldova "Sheriff" lost to the Irish "Dundalk" in the penalty shootout.

Also the Lithuanian "Suduva" and the Latvian "Riga" finished their performance in the tournament.