Stefan Ristovski got back playing for Sporting after the injury, keeper Dejan Iliev was Arsenal’s second keeper as the Europa League group stage ended with four Macedonians advancing into the knockout stage.
photo by UEFA: Boban Nikolov (R) chases Callum Hudson-Odoi
UEFA Europa League Group A, AEK –
Bayer Leverkusen 1:5
Ivan Trichkovski started the game on the bench and entered the field in the 57 minute taking the place of Tete. It was 1:2 at the time. is teammate Daniel Mojsov is still out with the foot injury. AEK was already eliminated.
UEFA Europa League Group D, Dinamo –
Anderlecht 0:0
Arijan Ademi missed this last round match due to a yellow cards suspension. Nevertheless, his presence wasn’t needed as Dinamo had already booked the top position and will enter Monday’s Round of 32 draw as a seeded team.
UEFA Europa League Group D, Spartak –
Fenerbahçe 1:0
Elif Elmas wasn’t summoned for the same reason as Ademi, a yellow card suspension. His Fener could not move up or down from the second place so will enter the draw as unseeded.
UEFA Europa League Group E, Sporting –
Vorskla 3:0
Stefan Ristovski started his first match after the muscle injury that sidelined him for a month and a half, and lasted 64 minutes on the pitch as he made space for teenager Thierry Correia. Sporting already had the comfortable 3:0 lead at that stage. It wasn’t an important match for his team since they had already secured the second place. Sporting will be unseeded in the draw.
UEFA Europa League Group E, Arsenal –
Qarabağ 1:0
Keeper Dejan Iliev got summoned for this game and spent the entire match at the bench as reserve keeper. His Arsenal had already secured the first place so Unai Emery could give a chance to reserve and youth players.
UEFA Europa League Group L, Vidi –
Chelsea 2:2
Boban Nikolov played the entire mach for the Hungarian team. After just four minutes of play it was Nikolov who had the first scoring chance. He found space on the left before smashing his effort wide of the Chelsea goal. His team finished third and got eliminated as BATE managed to win at PAOK to overtake the second place.
Interestingly, Nikolov wasn’t the only Macedonian on the field as Macedonian referees were in charge at this match. Aleksandar Stavrev was main referee, his assistants were Marjan Kirovski and Dejan Kostadinov with additional referees Dimitar Mechkarovski and Dejan Jakimovski, while fourth official was Nikola Karakolev. Four yellow cards were given to the Vidi players, while one to Chelsea. No red cards were shown.