Cherno More and Levski finished 0:0 in their last match of the Bulgarian football championship, a group for classification from 1st to 4th place. The point was enough for Cherno More for the bronze medals and a quota for the Conference League, after Arda made 2:2 in their visit to Ludogorets, BTA reported.
Before the start of the match, a minute of silence was held in memory of the legendary defender Kiril Ivkov, who passed away on May 24.
The Cherno More team was led by the previous team captain Daniel Dimov, who announced that he was ending his career. Dimov played 232 matches with the Cherno More team, scoring 12 goals. He also played for Levski, Maccabi Petah Tikva, Denizlispor, Manisaspor and Boluspor. Dimov handed over the captain's armband to Vasil Panayotov, and the shirt with number 27 - to the young Berk Beyhan.
The first serious danger in the match was for Cherno More in the 12th minute. Mazir Sula broke through from the left, entered the visitors' penalty area and passed the ball to Deryk Osei, who shot, but goalkeeper Svetoslav Vutsov managed to save. In the 36th minute, Daniel Martin advanced into Levski's box and fired a shot from about 20 meters, but the goalkeeper of the “blues” again showed class and saved. In the 39th minute, Alexander Kolev saw that the Black Sea goalkeeper had come forward and tried a cross shot from more than 40 meters, but Plamen Iliev managed to catch the ball.
In the 50th minute, Mazir Sula shot diagonally from the right, but the ball went over Levski's goal. In the 55th minute, Nikolay Zlatev shot from a direct free kick from more than 30 meters, but the ball went over the goal of the capital team. In the 62nd minute, Nikolay Zlatev shot dangerously from about 20 meters, but fortunately for the guests, the ball went wide of the goal.
In the 67th minute, Karl Fabien received a pass from the left during Levski's attack and shot dangerously diagonally, but Plamen Iliev managed to catch it. In the 73rd minute, Nikolay Zlatev shot diagonally from the left, but goalkeeper Svetoslav Vutsov cleared the ball.
Arda (Kardzhali) earned only a point after a 2:2 draw against the champion Ludogorets (Razgrad) and finished in fourth place in the Bulgarian football championship standings. Alexander Tunchev's team remained one point behind Cherno More (Varna) and will play a play-off for participation in the European club tournaments against the winner of the second four CSKA-Sofia, BTA reported.
The match was dynamic from the start and there were many chances, the first of which was for Bernard Tekpetey, who returned after a long treatment for an injury. The Ghanaian was injured at the start of the season in a European club tournament match against Qarabag and underwent surgery on August 8, after which he recovered in time for the final round of the playoffs.
Tekpetey missed with his first shot of the match, but Stanislav Ivanov scored the second. Defender Nikolay Nikolov cleared the ball straight into the body of captain Anton Nedyalkov and made another attempt, but instead sent it into the path of the Arda winger. Ivanov was accurate with a cannonball volley in the sixth minute and recorded his 11th goal of the season.
Andre Shinyashiki hit the post for Arda a little later, and Ludogorets equalized in the 33rd minute. Borislav Tsonev played with his hand after a cross from Georgi Rusev and the hosts were awarded a penalty, from which Tekpetey scored his first goal of the season. However, the Ghanaian was injured minutes later and was taken out on a stretcher.
The two teams continued to score until the 77th minute, when Eric Bile scored a second goal for Ludogorets. He took advantage of a ricochet in the penalty area and scored for 2:1, and eight minutes later Tonislav Yordanov jumped over Deni Gruper on a cross from Borislav Tsonev and scored with a header for 2:2.
Arda failed to achieve a turnaround and will play a play-off for the Conference League against CSKA-Sofia in Kardzhali. Cherno More will play in the qualifiers of the second-strongest continental tournament, Levski will be the Bulgarian representative in the Europa League, and Ludogorets will make a new attempt to qualify for the Champions League groups.