Rabotnicki and Teteks are through into the 3rd round of the Europa League. Rabotnicki eliminated Mika and now will face Liverpool, while Teteks did the same with Ventspils and will now play against Elfsborg.

Liverpool will come to Macedonia! One of the biggest football clubs in the world will play against Rabotnmicki in the 3rd qualifying round of the UEFA Europa League. It is not a joke, nor a dream. After Rabotnicki eliminated Armenian team Mika, will have the honor to face the Reds from Anfield.

But, it wasn’t anywhere near easy to achieve this success. Rabotnicki went to Armenia’s capital, Yerevan, with a 1:0 lead from Skopje. Today, Mika outplayed Rabotnicki and had many chances to score even more than two goals, but goalkeeper Martin Bogatinov and the mighty “luck” saved Rabotnicki from a defeat. Mika had the possesion and after two offsides in the first 10 minutes, Edílson had the first chance to bring the lead to Mika, but his shot from a free kick missed the goal. Next who missed was Tadevosyan, than Demel, Alex, Petrosyan and so on. In the 25th minute Gligorov had the first chance for Rabotnicki, but missed, same as Zé Carlos two minutes later. In the second half same story as in the first. In the last 10 minutes Mika started to realize that the time was going very fast and put a lot of pressure over Rabotnicki’s goal and even goalkeeper Saulius Klevinskas spent the last 5 minutes in Bogatinov’s box. Twice Fábio Silva failed to score from counter attacks on an empty goal, but none will remember that since the game ended goalless, a result that takes Rabotnicki on a clash with Liverpool.

None believed that Teteks could eliminate Latvian side Ventspils, a team that last season reached the Europa League group stage. But it happened! After the 0:0 in Latvia, Teteks beat Ventspils with 3:1 in the return leg in Skopje and together with Rabotnicki advanced into the 3rd round. After a free kick taken by captain Srgjan Zaharievski, Kosovan international Genc Hyseni opened the score in the 15th minute with a bit of help by guest’s defender Evgeny Postnikov, for a huge euphoria on the Philip II stadium. Hyseni will be remembered in the club’s history as the first ever to score a goal for Teteks in the European cups. In the 34th minute another goal for Teteks. Now Dimce Ristevski scored for a 2:0 lead, a score that was a final for the first half. In the second half, The Latvian side couldn’t do anything, but to let another goal. After 10 minutes of play, former Macedonian league top goalscorer Ivica Gligorovski scored for 3:0. All that Ventspils was able to do was to lower the lead when Vladimirs Bespalovs was left unmark in the box and scored for 3:1. In the 3rd round Teteks will play against Swedish side Elfsborg who eliminated Moldovan side Iskra-Stal.

Yerevan: Mika – Rabotnicki 0:0 (0:0) 0:1 agg.
Scorers: /
Referee: Radek Prihoda (Czech)
Mika: Klevinskas (gk), Mkoyan (c), Pedro López77′, Mkrtchyan, Alex35′, Tadevosyan, Petrosyan (Hakobyan 63′), Voskanyan (Ednei 75′), Beglaryan (Grigaravičius 66′), Edílson, Demel. Manager: Armen Adamyan.
Rabotnicki: Bogatinov (gk)88′, Sekulovski, Adem, Belica, Dimovski, Tunevski, Gligorov (c), Todorovski, Muarem37′ (Márcio 78′84′), Zé Carlos (Fábio Silva 64′), Wandeir (Roberto Carlos 73′). Manager: Zoran Stratev.

Skopje: Teteks – Ventspils 3:1 (2:0) 3:1 agg.
Scorers: Hyseni 15′, Ristevski 34′, Gligorovski 55′ – Bespalovs 81′
Referee: Harald Lechner (Austria)
Teteks: Ma. Jovanovski (gk), Naumovski46′, D. Jovanovski, Ristov59′, Miskovski (Belcev 49′), Ristevski, Zaharievski (c)57′, Peev (M. Jovanovski 71′), Hyseni42′ (Radonjić 82′), Stojanovski, Gligorovski42′. Manager: Toni Jakimoski.
Ventspils: Koļinko (gk), Kryuchkov, Postnikov, Bespalovs, Chirkin39′ +85′ = 85′, Kosmačovs, A. Višņakovs (E. Višņakovs 55′), Solovjovs, Dedov (Mischenko 71′90’+2′), Rugins (c) (Žigajevs 53′), Schumilin45’+2′. Manager: Nunzio Zavettieri.