Unbelievable result against the reigning European champion tonight. Macedonia defended with Italian style and scored in the injury time to eliminated Italy and to advance in the final play-off against Portugal.

photo by UEFA: the final whistle

Milevski fielded the expected 4-3-3 formation without the suspended Elif Elmas and Tihomir Kostadinov. Stole Dimitrievski as keeper, Ezgjan Alioski right back, Visar Musliu and Darko Velkovski as CBs and captain Stefan Ristovski on the left side. In midfield there were Arijan Ademi, Boban Nikolov and Enis Bardhi. Aleksandar Trajkovski and Darko Churlinov started as wingers with Milan Ristovski up front.

The beginning did not promise anything good for Macedonia as it was only Italy with the ball. The European champions were dominati9ng the possession, but could not create very serious chances.

It could have been a 1:0 lead for the Hosts if Domenico Berardi used Dimitrievski mistake better. Our keeper made a devastating pass right to Berardi, he wasn’t even at the goal, the Italian fired a clumsy shot and Stole managed to get back in time and make a safe.

The very next minute Ciro Immobile had an attempt from left but his shot went over the bar. Later Lorenzo Insigne tested Dimitrievski from distance, but only for a corner kick.

In the 39th minute came the first Macedonian chance. Churlinov was sprinting into counter attack and just before to fire a shot Gianluca Mancini caught him and took over the ball. In the last minute of the opening half Bardhi served Trajkovski in the deep, Alex tried from distance but it was an easy safe for Donnarumma.

The match went into half-time goalless.

The second half but similar with Italy controlling the ball, but the Macedonian were a but more relaxed and attempted several attack, although without success. On three occasions Berardi had scoring opportunities, but every timer he somehow missed.

When the fourth assistant showed 5 minutes of additional time everyone thought the match will go into extra time. The 2nd stoppage time minute was underway when Trajkovski fired a shot from 20 meters into the fat bottom corner, Donnarumma tried to catch the ball but failed and the ball went into the net. The jubilant Macedonians defended well for the rest of the injury minutes and than eruption on field and on the stand when the red and yellow fans were.

In the other match in out Path C of the European qualifiers Portugal ended Turkey’s World Cup dream with a 3:1 win, meaning that Tuesday night Macedonia will match Portugal for the WC spot. The match will be played at the Dragão stadium in Porto with a kick-off at 20.45 CET (19.45 local time).

Match report

Facts about the match:
260th match for Macedonia overall
75th appearance for Aleksandar Trajkovski & Stefan Ristovski
55th appearance for Ezgjan Alioski
20th goal for Aleksandar Trajkovski