Valletta managed to hold Ruch Chorzów in a goalless draw in the second leg of the UEFA Europa League second qualifying round in Chorzów. However this result was not enough for the Citizens to reach the next stage as Ruch qualify on the away-goals rule following the 1-1 draw at Ta’ Qali last week.
The Polish side will now face Austria Wien in the next round.
Knowing that only a win or at least a 2-2 draw, Valletta tried their best to score a goal which would have opened wide the issue but as expected, the hosts held the initiative, creating more chances.
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However the Citizens gave a very good account of themselves, keeping their opponents at bay, even going close to notching the winner in added time through Gilbert Agius.
This game brings to an end the Maltese teams’ commitments in the two major UEFA competitions this season. The best performance ever for local teams considering three wins for Birkirkara, two draws for Valletta and another draw for Sliema Wanderers out of a total of eight matches. Excellent results which should guarantee Malta four places in next year’s UEFA competitions.
RUCH Matko Perdiji?, Wojciech Grzyb, Krzysztof Nykiel, Sebastian Olszar (60′ Arkadiusz Piech), ?ukasz Janoszka (78′ Grzegorz Bronowicki), Rafa? Grodzicki, Micha? Pulkowski, Artur Sobiech (89′ Marcin Malinowski), Maciej Sadlok, Gábor Straka, Ariel Jakubowski.
VALLETTA Andrew Hogg, Jonathan Caruana, Steve Borg, Ramón
(71′ Bezzina), Gilbert Agius, Roderick Briffa, Omonigho Temile (80′ Ian Zammit), Jamie Pace, Denni, Kevin Sammut (64′ Dyson Falzon), Terence Scerri.
Referee: Andrea De Marco (ITA)
Assistant referees: Gianluca Cariolato (ITA), Lorenzo Manganelli (ITA)
Fourth official: Leonardo Baracani (ITA)
Yellow Cards: Straka, Denni