The current champion of the Republic of North Macedonia in football Shkendija (Tetovo) achieved a routine victory in the local championship – 3:1 as a guest of Macedonia (Gjorche Petrov) and is looking forward to Ludogorets next Thursday with high spirits, BTA reported.
The first match of the playoff round of the Europa League tournament will be played on August 21 at 9:00 PM at the "Tose Proeski" stadium in Skopje, and the return match is on the 28th of this month at 8:30 PM at the Huvepharma Arena in Razgrad. The winner of this pair enters the single group phase of the tournament, and the loser will continue in the Conference League. Ludogorets were eliminated by Ferencváros to get here, while Qarabag (Azerbaijan) recorded two wins over the team from Tetovo.
The visitors from Shkendija opened the scoring before the 10th minute, when Fiton Ademi scored. In the 53rd minute, the visitors' lead was doubled, when Endrit Krasniqi scored from the penalty spot.
Senegalese winger Fabrice Tamba made it a classic in the 67th minute, after intercepting a pass from 38-year-old veteran and team captain Besart Ibrahimi. However, the hosts from Macedonia (Gjorce Petrov) pulled one back through Darko Glisic in added time of the match.
Thus, with their second victory in two matches and a goal difference of 8:2, Shkendija once again topped the standings in the championship of the Republic of North Macedonia, with Vardar (Skopje) and Struga Trim-Lum having the same points.
The victory was accepted calmly by head coach Jeton Beciri, who, however, expressed his dissatisfaction with the condition of the pitch on which the match with Macedonia (Gjorce Petrov) was played. And he admitted that he had made many changes and rotations in the squad in order to retain key players for the match with Ludogorets on Thursday.
"I am pleased because we achieved our goal. We came to win the three points and we succeeded in that. It is normal to have rotations due to fatigue from appearances in Europe, every player in this Shkendija team deserves a chance, minutes to show their qualities. It is very important to win in the first 4-5 rounds, because then, when the long trips to the European cups begin, it will be even more difficult for us. That is why we need to collect as many points as possible by the end of August“, said Beciri.
Their opponent in the 2nd round receives their rivals at a stadium in their neighborhood “Gorche Petrov”, with the grass surface looking good, but apparently the situation inside is completely different.
"I am surprised how a First League match can be played on such a field. Here I publicly call on the people who are competent to exercise control on all fields, because this contradicts all football logic... now the matches are broadcast live, VAR technology has been introduced. "And at the same time, it's incredible what kind of field we're playing on - with such tall grass, with holes that directly affect the quality of the game, but also the health of the players. I had to make a substitution at half-time because one of our players got injured stepping on a hole, of which there were many on the field today," the specialist concluded.