Crvena zvezda Belgrade beat FC Irtysh Pavlodar 2-0 in UEFA Europa League Second Qualifying Round Second Leg to win 3-1 on aggregate and progress to the next round.
Ground: Rajko Mitić Stadium
Attendance: 22,414
Referee: Fedayi San (Switzerland)
Goalscorers: Donald 10', Srnić 75'.
Teams:
Crvena zvezda: Manojlović, Stojković, Savić, Le Tallec, Anđelković, Donald, Jovičić, Kanga, Srnić, Ricardinho, Boakye.
Substitutes: Kahriman, Frimpong, Račić, Milijaš, Ruiz, Adžić, Pešić.
Irtysh Pavlodar: Loria, Kislitsyn, Stamenković, Dautov, Maslać, Rodrigo Antônio, Geteriyev, Fonseca, Kalinin, Živković, Bugaev.
Substitutes: Kalmykov, Yessimov, Darabayev, Popov, Aliyev, Fofana, Shabalin.
Crvena zvezda players proved that they are better than FC Irtysh of Kazakhstan by recording a well-deserved -2-0 victory on the night nothing went according to plan for the visitors.
An early Mitchell Donald perfectly-taken free kick set the Belgrade team on course and Slavoljub Srnić’s close range finish from a Jovičić low cross ensured Crvena zvezda play at least two more matches in Europe this season, with Czech giants AC Sparta Prague the opposition.
The red-and-whites controlled the proceedings well for the best part of the 90 minutes and hardly allowed the visitors a sight of Filip Manojlović’s net. The performance wasn’t spectacular by any means, but Vladan Milojević’s style of football is slowly becoming a second nature to Crvena zvezda players.
Kanga and Boakye worked very hard to exploit weaknesses in visitors’ defence and it’s a shame neither of them could grab goals tonight. They had confidence to move forward because Branko Jovičić produced a fine display in the middle of the park, restricting the opponents’ movement and protecting his back four.
But Jovičić showed that he can be very productive going forward when he got to the byline with an electric run down the left wing and crossed low for Slavoljub Srnić, who’s had an easy task of putting the ball in the net and virtually ending any lingering Irtysh hopes.
Our players notably tried many long-range shots and they came close quite often through Ricardinho, Kanga and Boakye.
The match ended with 2-0 the score with more than 22 thousand spectators saluting the winners.
Our team will play two more home matches in space of seven days as Radnički Niš arrive to Belgrade for the Superliga opener before we host AC Sparta Prague in the UEFA Europa League Third Qualifying Round First Leg on Thursday, 27 July.