Whites survived dozens of minutes of pressure and a strict red card, they take home a promising result from Slovenia – Sport – Football – European Cups

The footballers of SK Slovan Bratislava drew 1:1 on the field of Slovenian NK Celje in the first match of the second preliminary round of the Champions League.

From the right, Vladimír Weiss (Slovak) against Jošt Pišek and Armandas Kučys (Celje).

Their goal was scored in the 11th minute by David Strelec, when he responded to Luka Bobičanec’s precise strike from a direct kick.

The Whites played without midfielder Kyriakos Savvidis from the 31st minute, who received a red card after a foul. Rematch is scheduled for Tuesday, July 30 from 8:30 p.m. in Bratislava.

The winner of this double match will meet the more successful of the pair APOEL Nicosia – Petrocub Hincesti. In the first match, the Cypriot team won 1:0.

Dominik Takáč started in Slovan’s goal, for whom it was the first game since arriving from Spartak Trnava.

Already in the opening seconds, the Slavs faced a dangerous offensive action from the home team, but they did not reach the end in the round of 16.

Goalkeeper Takáč kept a clean sheet in his new place of work for less than seven minutes, as in the 7th minute he caught the direction of the shot from a direct kick, but Bobičanec sent a strong enough shot to the right post – 1:0.

In two minutes, the home team could have increased the lead, but Bajrič managed to kick the ball away from the finishing player at the last moment. “Belasí” gradually increased their offensive and in the 11th minute they equalized.

Mak pulled the action on the right side, his pass into the penalty area was taken over by Weiss, who sent a back pass from the goal line to the uncovered Strelec and he beat the Štubljar goalkeeper from close range – 1:1.

The home team had a slight advantage in the first half, but they did not manage to score in it. After half an hour of the game, there was a complication for the “Whites,” as referee England sent Savvidis off after a foul on Svetlin.

The Slovak champion breathed a sigh of relief in the 41st minute after Matka’s goal was disallowed for offside.

At the beginning of the second half, the Slovanists managed to keep the game away from Takač’s goal and tried to be dangerous offensively. However, they failed to outnumber the opponent’s defense in a weakened state.

After an hour of play, Matko tried to push through from the penalty area, but Zuberu managed to block his shot in time.

In the 73rd minute, although Takač did not reach Pišek’s shot from outside the penalty area, it was preceded by offside. In the end, the Celje players stepped up the pressure, but Takač kept his team with several saves.