The Bulgarian U21s achieved a narrow 1-0 victory away to Gibraltar in a Group B match of the Euro 2027 qualifiers.
Georgi Lazarov scored the only goal for the "Lions" in the 26th minute.
Todor Yanchev's players left no doubt that they were the classier ones on the pitch and may even regret that their success was not more impressive. The Bulgarians made a bunch of mistakes in front of the opponent's goal, which ultimately did not prove fatal for our team.
This is the third victory since the start of these qualifiers for the "tricolors", who will host Azerbaijan in four days. Bulgaria retains fourth place, but reduces the gap to the Czech Republic and Scotland to only one point. Gibraltar remains at the bottom of the group with 7 losses from 7 matches.
In the fourth minute, Nikolay Zlatev shot treacherously with his head, but the opponent's goalkeeper was careful and intervened appropriately. Shortly after, Georgi Lazarov shot from a difficult position, but the ball fell straight into the hands of Hari Viktor.
The pressure from our boys continued and in the 12th minute, Asen Mitkov had a good opportunity to open the score, but this time the Gibraltar goalkeeper reacted in a great way. Just 60 seconds later, a header by Lazarov went inches from the right side post.
A quarter of an hour after the start of the match, Gomez crossed from a foul, and with the help of the wind, the ball headed towards the Bulgarian goal. However, Alex Bozhev did not allow for a surprise and caught it without any problems.
Good situations followed in front of Lazarov and Panayotov, but in both cases no goal was scored. However, the logical thing happened in the 26th minute and Bulgaria took the lead. Assen Mitkov crossed from the right flank, and in the immediate vicinity of the goal Georgi Lazarov was left uncovered and punished the mistake of the "red" defense.
In the 34th minute, miraculously, the score was not doubled. Sevi Idriz found Lazarov, who was alone in the penalty area again, but the striker's shot did not go well and did not find the target.
Three minutes later, Gomez shot technically from a free kick towards the top right corner of the goal, but Bozhev made a brilliant save. Then Assen Mitkov tried to do the same, but his shot flew over the crossbar.
In the 41st minute, Ivaylo Videv's shot from the air was blocked by Viktor.
At the beginning of the second half, Idriz outwitted a Gibraltar defender, but his subsequent shot was not accurate.
In the 56th minute, Georgi Lazarov fought off Taylor Carrington in the penalty area, but at the last moment the defender managed to regain position and block the shot.
In the 63rd minute, Lazarov again received the ball in an excellent position in the penalty area, but his shot from the move went wide of the target.
10 minutes later, Georgi Chorbadzhiyski shot weakly with his left foot, and Viktor caught it comfortably.
In the 78th minute, a very dangerous attack by our team was stopped with a controversial offside.
In the added time of the match, the hosts created a good chance in front of the Bulgarian goal, but Carrington's shot was inaccurate.
Gibraltar (U21) 0:1 Bulgaria (U21)
0:1 Georgi Lazarov (26)
Starting lineups:
Gibraltar (U21): 1. Victor, 7. Peacock, 4. Brito, 5. Carrington, 17. Smith, 11. Mason, 14. Busselam, 8. Stevens, 16. Gomez, 3. Parodi, 19. Chipolina;
Bulgaria (U21): 23. Alex Bozhev, 5. Mihail Polendakov, 2. Ivaylo Videv, 4. Todor Pavlov, 15. Dimitar Papazov, 21. Petko Panayotov, 6. Ivan Pankov, 22. Asen Mitkov, 19. Nikolay Zlatev, 11. Sevi Idriz, 7. Georgi Lazarov.