All three Macedonian representatives in the Europa League qualifications faced elimination after getting defeated in the return round by Alashkert, Zrinjski and Pyunik.

photo by Filip Zdraveski: moment of Makedonija GjP – Alashkert

Disappointing performance by Makedonija GjP who was trailing a win by two goals against Armenian side Alashkert. The 3:1 defeat in the first leg gave a glimpse of hope thanks to the goal scored on the road, but the Lions not just that failed to win but also recorded a humiliating defeat in a a very bad play. The visitors right from the start closed every way towards their goal giving Makedonija GjP no scoring opportunities. In the 21st minute Nedanović broke the dead lock after a counter attack. Tanturovski later reacted very selfishly as during a counter attack he was with two teammates against two Armenian players and instead of passing to anyone he fired a shot that was easily blocked. In the second half Alashkert added two more goals as the Lions created few chances but never managed to score. In the next round Alashkert will match Romanian giants Steaua.

Petar Miloshevski stadium in Skopje
Makedonija GjP – Alahskert 0:3 (0:1); 1:6 agg.
Goals: 21′ Uroš Nedanović, 68′ Thiago Galvão, 74′ Taron Voskanyan
Makedonija GjP: 12. Jovanovski; 2. Fernando Augusto (51′ 20. Adem), 3. Bianor, 6. Lichina, 13. Pecov; 10. Robson, 17. Filipovski (66′ 4. Mishevski); 24. Tanturovski, 7. Bozhinovski (C), 23. Padu (46′ 14. Demir); 11. Jasharoski.
Alahskert: 55. Čančarević; 8. Daghbashyan, 3. Voskanyan, 6. Ishkhanyan, 22. Mkoyan; 21. A. Grigoryan (C) (61′ 9. Thiago Galvão), 17. Sekulić (77′ 14. Shahinyan), 11. Hayrapetyan; 15. Nedanović, 19. Tankov (72′ 13. Avagimian), 18. Tiago Cametá.
Yellow cards: Demir (M)
Red cards: /
Referee: Christophe Pires Martins
Assistants: Daniel Da Costa & David Mateus Santos
4th official: Jérémy Muller

After the 3:0 trashing at home, Akademija Pandev stood no chance away to clearly the better Zrinjski. After a decent opening half in which the Macedonians showed much better play than the first leg, the Bosnian side eventually broke the dead lock five minutes after the break. At the end Zrinjski celebrated with the same result as in Skopje after adding two more goals. Zrinjski will face Dutch side Utrecht in the next round.

Bijeli Brijeg stadium in Mostar
Zrinjski – Akademija Pandev 3:0 (0:0); 6:0 agg.
Goals: 50′ Staniša Mandić, 79′ Miljan Govedarica, 90’+2 Renato Gojković
Zrinjski: 1. Brkić; 18. Rugašević, 3. Gojković, 27. Jakovljević (C), 17. Barišić; 7. Čirjak (59′ 10. Šovšić), 44. Rustemović (79′ 13. Pezer), 4. Ćurjurić; 77. Mandić, 24. Lendrić, 32. Stanić (46′ 99. Govedarica).
Akademija Pandev: 91. Alchevski (65′ 12. Denkovski); 33. Manevski, 4. Dimov, 6. Kostov, 5. Iliev; 20. Temelkov, 25. Tanushev (67′ 19. Pandev); 14. Doriev (C), 8. Stoilov, 10. Milovanovikj; 17. Krstovski (75′ 2. Jovanov).
Yellow cards: Ćurjurić, Jakovljević, Mandić, Rugašević (Z), Manevski (AP)
Red cards: /
Referee: Ondřej Pechanec
Assistants: Jiří Moláček & Jakub Hrabovský
4th official: Ondřej Berka

At last, Shkupi – the only club who had realistic chance for reaching the second round, also joined Makedonija GjP and Akademija Pandev in suffering a disappointing elimination tonight. With 3:3 from the first leg Shkupi was ok with a draw, while Pyunik had to win. However, after only 7 minutes the visitors already took the necessary lead after a stunning 30 meter goal by Edigaryan. It was a real beauty and Brazilian newcomer Thulio stood no chance. At half an hour former Vardar player Miranyan silenced the home fans as he doubled the lead.

Shkupi pressed hard after the break and after just three minutes got close to scoring when Bajrami his the crossbar with an inside the box shot after a corner kick. They refused to give up and kept attacking, and their efforts finally resulted in a goal in the 82нд minute when Bosnian forward Jurina scored to make it 1:2, bringing Shkupi back in game and opening nail-biting last 10 minutes of the game. However, only three minutes later, the pressure seemed to have culminated as Serginho got a direct red card after a confrontation with one of Pyunik’s players. With a player down Shkupi still tried going for a second goal but they failed to reach it and ended up suffering a disappointing home loss to Pyunik who got to advance in the next round to meet Czech side Jablonec.

National Arena Toshe Proeski in Skopje
Shkupi – Pyunik 1:2 (0:2); 4:5 agg.
Goals: 82′ Marin Jurina – 7′ Artak Edigaryan, 31′ Artur Miranyan
Shkupi: 31. Thulio; 4. Gjorgievski, 32. Ilieski, 6. Adili, 34. Ismaili (60′ 16. Krivanjeva); 5. Bajrami (C), 17. Diack (69′ 8. Jusufi), 21. Bilali, 19. Goudiaby (46′ 7. Veliu), 11. Serginho; 99. Jurina.
Pyunik: 25. Dragojević; 5. Manucharyan, 63. Marku, 66. Zhestokov, 8. Stankov; 70. Shevchuk, 10. Vardanyan, 6. Mkrtchyan (C), 17. Edigaryan, 7. Simonyan (67′ 42. Alfred); 9. Miranyan.
Yellow cards: Adili, Bajrami (Sh), Simonyan, Shevchuk, Marku, Zhestokov, Dragojević (P)
Red cards: 85′ Serginho (Sh)
Referee: Vitaliy Romanov
Assistants: Andrii Skrypka & Igor Alokhin
4th official: Viktor Kopiievskyi