Malta suffered a heavy 0-5 defeat to Greece in the opening match from Group F of the UEFA Under-21 Champions qualifying round at the Centenary Stadium on Tuesday. 

The visitors were clearly a better side right from the start and Davide Mazzotta’s side could only do its best to limit the damages.

Greece took the lead on 14 minutes when off an assist by Noa Tzeims Alen from the left, Stavros Pnevmonidis beat goalkeeper Luca Camilleri with a fine shot from outside the area. 

Two minutes in added time, before the end of the first half, Georgios Koutsias doubled the score when he managed to lob the ball over the Maltese custodian. 

Eight minutes in the second half, Koutsias, served by Bregou, concluded a good run with a shot from inside the area which gave Camilleri no chance. 

Greece extended the lead on 63 minutes courtesy of Stavros Pnevmonidis who entered the area from the right, when served by Theodosoulakis, and beat Camilleri with an angled shot.

Substitute Dimitris Rallis made it 5-0 on the 90th, beating the Malta goalkeeper from close range when served by Bokos from the right.  

Malta: Luca Camilleri, Sven Xerri, Benjamin Hili, Andrew Borg, Jake Vassallo, Jake Micallef (Jake Grech 46’), Nathan Cross (Nicholas Agius 68’), Jake Azzopardi, Keyon Ewurum (Sean Gatt 46’), Lucas Scicluna (Lucas Caruana 68’), Joshua Pitts (Finley Ging 68’).

Greece: Nikolaos Botis, Athanasios Koutsougoulas, Noa Tzeims Alen, Alexios Kalogeropoulos, Chirstos Alexiou, Theofanis Bakoulas (Evangelos Nikolaou 28’), Stavros Pnevmonidis (Ioannis Gavril Bokos 78’), Konstantinos Gkoumas (Ioannis Apostolakis 78’), Georgios Koutsias (Dmitiris Rallis 58’), Antonios Papakanelios (Ioannis Theodosoulakis 58’), Adriano Bregou. 

Referee: Milos Savovic (MNE)

Assistant Referees: Marko Gojkovic, Nikoleta Obradovic (MNE)

Fourth Official: Dalibor Vujsic (MNE)