Metalurg disappointed in the European season opening loosing at home by Azeri side Qarabağ.

Another fiasco for Metalurg in the clashes with their old rival. Three years ago they were eliminated by the same oppenent with 5:2 od aggregate and now they even lost the first leg on home soil.

Both teams had few chances to score in the first half but their effort went wide or were saved by the goalkeepers. Metalurg’s best chance came in the 50th minute when Risto Mitrevski hit the bar from a free kick. The visitors scored in the 64th minute through Brazilian international Reynaldo Silva dos Santos who got the ball after it bounced back from the post after Nikoloz Gelashvili’s shot. However, Reynado was offside in the moment of Gelashvili’s shot, but the referees failed to notice that. In the rest of the game Qarabağ succesfully defended the lead preventing Metalurg to create chances.

Mile Krstev, who yesterday bragged that he will need only 5 minutes to score in this game, failed to do so. He entered the field in the 67th minute all he did was getting a yellow card 7 minutes latter after he protested to the main referee who made a mistake after not awarding Metalurg a corner.

Macedonian international and former Rabotnichki and Teteks player Muarem Muarem played only the first half for the visitors.

National Arena Philip II of Macedon in Skopje
Attendance: 250
Scorer: 64′ Reynaldo
Metalurg: Efremov; Ljamchevski, Mitrevski, Mitrev (c), Gjorgievski; Dalcheski (67′ Krstev), Peev, Ignjatov, Stevanović; Radeski (46′ Churlinov), Simonovski (63′ Alomerovikj). Manager: Srgjan Zaharievski.
Qarabağ: Varvodić; Qarayev, Medvedev, Sadıqov (c), Teli; Muarem (46′ Yusifov), Reynaldo, Richard Almeida, Agolli; Nadirov (70′ Səttarlı), Gelashvili (84′ George). Manager: Qurban Qurbanov.
Yellow cards: Ljamchevski, Krstev (M), Qarayev, Yusifov (Q)
Red cards: /
Referee: Lars Christoffersen (Denmark)
Assistants: Henrik Sønderby, Niels Høg. Fourth: Henrik Nystrup Kragh (Denmark all)

The winning goal: