Great Levski recorded their first victory in the main phase of the Europa League. "The Blues" won 2:1 over Victoria in Pilsen. The match was from the third round of the tournament. Everton Bala opened the scoring at the end of the first half. In the 62nd minute, Christoph Kabongo equalized, and just three minutes later, Reynaldo again gave the Bulgarian champion an advantage, thus shaping the final score.
The graduates of Julio Velázquez played a strong match, in which they took maximum advantage of their opponent's mistakes in defense, while almost not allowing any in defense. Thus, "The Blues" have 4 points and occupy 17th place in the provisional standings. For Victoria, this was the third consecutive loss.
The match started evenly. In the 13th minute, the hosts had a good opportunity to score. Tobias Paliscak found Amar Memic on the right in the penalty area with an excellent pass. The Bosnian made a strong shot, but over the goal.
In the 25th minute, Reynaldo received from the left and passed to Maicon in the penalty area. The defender looked for the far corner with a strong shot, but Florian Wiegele kicked it out.
At the end of the first half, Levski took the lead after a gross mistake by the hosts. Tobias Paliscak made a mistake with a pass to his goalkeeper Florian Wiegele. Reynaldo took advantage of this, who took the ball and passed it to the uncovered Everton Bala. The Brazilian beat the goalkeeper from ten meters for 0:1.
The second half started with an excellent opportunity for the Bulgarian champion. Mazir Sula took the ball from the right and crossed sharply into the penalty area. Viegele missed the ball, which remained in the possession of the "blues". Reynaldo broke free and fired a shot into the left corner, but the Victoria goalkeeper cleared it for a corner.
In the 54th minute, Sheik Soare crossed from a corner, and in the penalty area, Sampson Due headed the ball. The Liberian had claims for a handball by Marko Grujic. The situation was reviewed by VAR, but a penalty kick was not awarded.
Victoria equalized in the 62nd minute. Stefan Pirgić passed to Sheik Soare from the right after a corner kick from the left. The Frenchman crossed to the far post, where Christophe Kabongo was dropped. The striker took a shot that Svetoslav Vutsov initially managed to clear, but on his second attempt to clear the ball, he sent it into the goal.
Three minutes later, the champions regained their lead. Mehdi Mubarik passed to Maicon behind Tobias Palischak. The Brazilian, in turn, crossed sharply on the ground to Reinaldo, who scored from close range for 1:2.
In the 73rd minute of the game, after treatment for an injury that lasted over three months, Akram Bouras returned to the game. The Algerian replaced Everton Bala. Until the end of the match, the capital's players did not allow any danger in front of their goal and won their first victory in the main phase of the Europa League this season.
In their next match of the tournament, the "blues" host Jagiellonia Bialystok. The match is on November 5 at "Vasil Levski".