FC Slovan Liberec | Report: Liberec - Hajduk Split 1:0
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26.08.2015

Liberec beats Hajduk Split in first leg of Europa League playoffs

Club
play-off EL, Thursday 20.8.2015, 19:00, U Nisy
Liberec Liberec
1:0
(0:0)
Hajduk SplitHajduk Split
Liberec: Koubek – Coufal, Hovorka, Pokorný, Bartošák, Folprecht, Pavelka – Delarge (90. Kerbr), Shala (79. Sackey), Šural – Bakoš (62. Rabušic).
Hajduk Split: Kalinič – Juranovič, Milovič, Biliy, Milič – Jefferson – Sušič, Balič (66. Maloku), Caktaš, Vlašič – Ohandza.
Goals: 79´ Pokorný.
Yellow cards: 38´ Jefferson (HAJ), 39´ Folprecht (LIB), 39´ Milić (HAJ), 55´ Coufal (LIB), 60´ Šural (LIB), 79´ Biliy (HAJ).
Referees: Fernández Borbalán – Cabanero, Canelo Prieto (Spain).

Diváci: 8530

Commentary

The first leg of the play-off round between FC Slovan Liberec and HNK Hajduk Split saw more than 8,000 fans fill the U Nisy stadium as the famed Torcida fanclub of the visiting team arrived from Croatia, creating a spectacular atmosphere that made the match outstanding.

The match started with both teams creating opportunities, the first bigger one came from the foot of youngster Nikola Vlašić who got to the ball at the edge of the penalty area and tried to beat goalkeeper Tomáš Koubek who, however, made a great save to keep match scoreless.

A couple of minutes after that, fans could see a shot that you can see once in a month as Zdeněk Folprecht tried his luck from far out, curled the ball towards the right post and could only watch goalkeeper Lovre Kalinić make a huge acrobatic save.

However, that was not everything the first half had to offer as with ten minutes left in it, Tino-Sven Sušić tried to do the same thing as Folprecht, aiming for the other post, getting the ball past Koubek, but only finding the crossbar.

The second half looked like the exact opposite of the first one, chances became harder to come by and the flow of the game changed in favor of the home team. Most of the time, Hajduk was just defending the scoreless tie and Slovan was looking for a way to score a goal.

Dzon Delarge was the first player to get close to achieving that thanks to a perfect pass from Šural, but the Conogolese striker was, according to the linesman, offside.

With about a half an hour left to play, newcomer to the field Michal Rabušic could finally beat Kalinić as the ball deflected to him, but his shot got blocked and so did the follow-up by Herolind Shala.

The waiting was worth it though. With eleven minutes left in regulation time, Slovan had a free-kick opportunity on the right flank of the field and Lukáš Bartošák found Šural inside the box whose shot got tipped right to the feet of Lukáš Pokorný who was able to react quickly and fire the ball off the post and in to give his team a crucial one-nill lead.

Hajduk would come out of their defence following the goal, but their offensive pressure was not enough and so the home team would walk away with a 1-0 victory and a promising spot before the second leg on Thursday, August 27 in Split.


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