Botev (Plovdiv) had no problems qualifying for the quarterfinals in this year's edition of the tournament, achieving a decisive 5:1 victory over Lokomotiv (Sofia). The "Yellow-Black" achieved success with five different goal scorers, and some of the goals, to the displeasure of the audience in the "Nadezhda" quarter, were quite beautiful and spectacular, BTA reports.
In the 11th minute, the guests from Plovdiv took the lead with a goal by Alexa Marash, who scored with a fifth. They took a corner kick, the ball fell into the area where Yanis Karabelov fought off Bruno Franco and deflected the ball towards Marash, who, although with his back to the goal and with a dose of luck, opened the scoring with his heel.
In the 32nd minute, Botev (Plovdiv) took a 2-0 lead, with Alexa Marash being the main reason for this goal. He easily passed Dime Dimev, crossed to the onrushing Samuel Akere, and in his attempt to clear the ball, the defender of the capital team Miki Orachev scored an own goal. And only after another 4 minutes, Akere demonstrated his speed for the second time. He received a pass from deep, and fortunately for him, the defender of Lokomotiv (Sf) Stefano Lambese slipped. So the young African winger went at a fast pace and made no mistake against Lyubenov.
In the second half, Lokomotiv continued to look for at least a goal, which happened in the 59th minute. Anastasios Pitsolis returned a goal after a pass from Krasimir Stanoev from a corner kick. But just three minutes later, Ivelin Popov restored the Plovdiv team's lead to three goals. In the 63rd minute, during a new counterattack, Ehidze Ukaki broke through from the right, after being forgotten alone in the touchline. He entered the end line and returned to the penalty spot, from where Ivelin Popov had no problem scoring, then came out of the game to receive the ovations of the audience.
Young Erik Manolkov had a great chance to reduce the deficit in the 71st minute, after Svetoslav Dikov curled the ball into his path from the right. Manolkov, who appeared on the field a few minutes earlier, shot high over the top bar from 12 meters.
Instead of reducing the deficit, the hosts conceded a fifth goal, made by reserve Christian Cassi. In a static situation, Svetoslav Dikov failed to clear and with his knee perfectly lifted the ball to Cassi, who from about 8-9 meters tried attractively and scored for 1:5 with a back scissors.