The Macedonian champion was well beaten in Romania in the first game of the 2nd qualifying round of the UEFA Champions League.

Vardar is practically out of the Champions League after losing convincingly to Steaua. The fiasco in Bucharest only showed the vast difference in quality between the Macedonian and the Romanian leagues. Steaua started the game furiously and it was evident early on that Vardar was going to be in deep trouble.  Steaua got its first goal in the 12th minute when Macedonian national team player Daniel Georgievski gave a great ball to Adrian Popa whose shot hit the post, but the rebound fell to Cristian Tănase who used his opportunity to reach the back of the net. In the 21st minute, Steaua captain Alexandru Bourceanu took a corner kick, the ball reached the unmarked Mihai Pintilii who scored with a header that was barely missed by the goal line defender Mite Cikarski. The third goal came in stoppage time of the 1st half when Adrian Popa fired a shot that once again hit the post, but the rebound hit the keeper Igor Pavlović in the back before barely crossing the line for a resounding 3:0 lead.

The second half was not as eventful as Steaua already secured the win and Vardar was powerless to do anything about it. In the 52nd minute came the first attempt towards the Romanian champions’ goal when Jovan Kostovski’s shot from a direct free kick went well over the goal. The second and final Vardar chance was four minutes from time when Dragan Gjorgiev found himself inside the area, but his shot was inaccurate and went wide of the target. Steaua eventually won 3:0, with 13 corners taken compared to only 1 for Vardar which came in stoppage time during the second half.

The return leg will be played on 23 July at 20.45 CET at the National Arena Philip II of Macedon in Skopje.

Arena Națională in Bucharest
Scorers: 12′ Tănase, 21′ Pintilii, 45’+2 (o.g.) Pavlović
Steaua: Tătărușanu; Georgievski, Szukała, Chiricheș, Latovlevici; Bourceanu (c), Pintilii; Popa, Stanciu (57′ Iancu), Tănase (68′ Tatu); Nikolić (60′ Piovaccari). Manager: Laurențiu Reghecampf.
Vardar: Pavlović; Reljić, Bojović (c), Tanevski, Cikarski; Giménez (54′ Manevski), Temelkov, Petrović, Petrov (90’+1 Dimitrovski); Stojkov (79′ Gjorgiev), Kostovski. Manager: Blagoja Milevski.
Yellow cards: Tănase, Popa (S)
Red cards: /
Referee: Radek Příhoda (Czech Republic)
Assistants: Patrik Filipek, Petr Blažej; Fourth official: Jiří Jech (all Czech Republic).

Highlights: