The new UCI resulted in Belgium winning in the first round. AA Gent won by the smallest difference in Flora Tallinn in Estonia. Newcomer Darko Limagic was the author of the 0-1 match.
Flora Tallinn – AA Ghent in a nutshell:
- key moment: Ghent gets more intense after the break and sees his reward after just 10 minutes. Bezos passes the ball blindly to Limagic and head-to-head with Igonin, the Serbian newcomer scores the winning goal.
- man of the match: At the beginning of August, Darko Limagic scored a goal against AA Gent as a player for Regas in the third preliminary round of the Conference League, and tonight’s striker was crucial to his new boss. Its sweet ending gave Ghent a full booty in Tallinn.
- Special: Ghent already has more points than in the previous European campaign. Last season was the last desolate in the Europa League group stage, scoring 0 out of 18 in a group with Hoffenheim, Red Star Belgrade and Slovan Liberec.
The first half is too boring
At AA Gent, they wanted to get rid of the painful 0 out of 18 in last season’s Europa League as quickly as possible. One step less into the new conference league, Ghent had to polish its European reputation, starting with the field of Flora Tallinn.
On paper, the thirteen-time Estonian champ was a viable option for Ghent, but Flora clearly thought otherwise. Barely 8 minutes later, Ghent missed an early goal. Aliko got plenty of space in the penalty area, cut Castro Montes easily and saw his shot cross the goal through Hanshi Olsen.
Castro Montes immediately came in better offensively. Bezos fired with a good cross, but fired at Igonin in one go. Flora continued to play from his strength, and Aliko came too late on a dangerous cross from Vasiliev.
In a neglected first half, Ghent could only threaten again in the final stage, although Ijonen had little trouble with a languid long shot from Limagic. The visitors’ best chance came in overtime with a header from Depuetry, but Igonin blocked the score 0-1.
Lemajic pulls Ghent over the line
Ghent could only improve in the second half. The nearly 50 fans who traveled saw their team come out of the locker room even more intensely. Igonen was immediately forced to intervene with a treacherous shot from Bezoes, and Kallaste was forced to intervene again to deny Depoitre a major opportunity.
After 10 minutes into the second half, the visitors could finally make the difference. With a blind pass in turn, Bezos left Limagic alone in front of Igonin and had no chance: 0-1. Suddenly Lemajic got a taste of it, after a few minutes narrowly nodded.
Gent had momentum in their hands, but remained alert to the home team’s blows. In the hour when Sabinen was suddenly able to push, his shot eventually went away. Depuetry was able to relieve the tension immediately afterward, but Igonin refused to throw in the towel.
Thus Flora remained in the match and fifteen minutes before the end Sabinen again caused tension in Ghent. The attacker outmaneuvered Ngadeu when he broke through the box, but then hit Bulat’s force.
In the final stage, Lemajic had an excellent opportunity to de-stress once and for all with his second evening. The pass on Norio drew the ball perfectly on his head, but Limagic’s header is within reach of the powerful Igonin. But a single goal from the Serbian was ultimately enough to give Gent the full trophy in his first conference league group game.
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