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Birkirkara eliminated following goalless draw

Birkirkara were eliminated from the UEFA Europa League following a goalless draw in the second leg of the first round qualifier against Croatian side NK Slaven Belupo.

Slaven Belupo, who qualify on a 1-0 aggregate score after winning the first leg in Koprivnica last week, will now face FK Milano of Macedonia in the second qualifying round with the latter due to host the first leg in a week's time.

Birkirkara coach Paul Zammit made no changes to the team which lost narrowly in Koprivniconce again could not count on a number of players due to the absence of Ronni Hartvig, Lee Lombardi, George Mallia and Michael Galea.

Slaven had an edge over their opponents but after the break the two teams shared the exchanges with both sides having their fair share of scoring opportunities.

The visitors had the first shot at goal after just three minutes when a freekick by Alen Maraš ended just wide following a slight deflection and the resulting corner by Posavec was deflected by Omar Borg and off the rebound, Nicolas Nynkeu hit wide. On 11 minutes, a freekick by Bojan Vrucina from the left ended wide.

Birkirkara replied with an Angus Buhagiar header off a cross by Trevor Cilia from the right on 22 minutes. Hardly a minute later, following a short corner by Tabone for Cilia, the former tried his luck with a shot from the left which was neutralised by Rodic.

Omar Borg performed a good save on a Srebrenko Posavec effort from outside the area on 38 minutes. Two minutes later, Trevor Cilia went close for the Stripes with a shot from the right which was deflected into a corner and on 42 minutes, a goal by Shaun Bajada was disallowed for a dubious offside position. One minute from the end of the first half, a Trevor Cilia insidious cross was turned into a corner by a defender.

Slaven almost managed to break the deadlock one minute in the second half when Vrucina served Posavec with a perfect pass from the left but his attempt was cleared off the goalline by a defender.

On the other side of the pitch, Sylvano Comvalius missed an excellent opportunity four minutes later when he concluded wide from an ideal position on the edge of the area after being served by Paris.

On 56 minutes, Omar Borg blocked a good attempt by Bojan Vrucina from close range when the latter received a good pass inside the area. But Birkirkara went close once again two minutes later with a Shaun Bajada freekick ending just wide. On 71 minutes, there was a fine cross by Trevor Cilia from the right but goalkeeper Silvio Rodic anticipated Comvalius and Buhagiar.

Slaven threatened the Birkirkara rear-guard with a good pass by Maras for Delic on the left flank on 83 minutes but the latter's effort was neutralised by Omar Borg. Hardly a minute later, an Alan Tabone attempt from outside the area was saved in two attempts by Rodic.

Five minutes from time, a good move between substitutes Luke Sciberras and Rowen Muscat ended with the latter's rising shot ending just over the bar.

B'KARA Omar Borg, Thomas Paris (89' Clint Zammit), Trevor Cilia, Alan Tabone, Shaun Bajada, Paul Fenech (85' Rowen Muscat), Joseph Zerafa, Patrick Borg, Andrew Scicluna, Sylvano Comvalius, Angus Buhagiar (76' Luke Sciberras).
SLAVEN Silvio Rodic, Kaja Rogulj, Dalibor Poldrugac, Aljoša Vojnovic (61' Mateas Delic), Srebrenko Posavec (73' Mario Bilen), Vedran Puric, Bojan Vrucina, Mario Juric (89' Matija Poredski), Nicolas Nynkeu, Alan Maraš, Csaba Csizmadia.
Referee: Georgios Daloukas

Birkirkara eliminated following goalless draw

09/07/2009 20:18:21

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