English
FC Lugano and Celje played a thrilling match in the first leg of the UEFA Europa Conference League Round of 16, held at the Stockhorn Arena in Thun, Switzerland. The encounter, with a dramatic finish, ended with a 7-6 victory for Celje.
Lugano took the lead early with a goal from M. Belhadj in the 21st minute, but Celje responded with a goal from S. Seslar in the 40th minute. Before halftime, Lugano scored two more goals, from G. Koutsias and D. Dos Santos (minutes 42 and 44 respectively), to go into the break with a 3-1 advantage.
The second half was a rollercoaster. T. Svetlin reduced the deficit for Celje in the 68th minute. G. Koutsias scored his second goal of the match in the 80th minute for Lugano, but a penalty converted by A. Kucys in the 90th minute left the score at 4-3 for Celje. A goal in added time, in the 97th minute, from Juanjo Nieto, added more drama.
In the final minutes, the match went to penalties due to the tie. Although Celje scored 5 and Lugano 3, the final score was 7-6 in favor of the Slovenian team.
The match was marked by intensity, with a total of 39 fouls and several cards, including a red card for Lugano. Both teams had a similar number of shots on target, reflecting the evenness of the game.
Substitutions celje: at minute 46 M. Kvesic came in and M. Dulca went out., at minute 46 A. Matko came in and L. Delaurier-Chaubet went out., at minute 116 Edmilson Santos came in and A. Kucys went out.
Substitutions fc lugano: at minute 63 Y. Cimignani came in and D. Dos Santos went out., at minute 88 K. Przybylko came in and G. Koutsias went out., at minute 90 A. El Wafi came in and M. Belhadj went out., at minute 102 O. Doumbia came in and A. Grgic went out., at minute 102 M. Marques came in and M. Valenzuela went out.
The teams lined up as follows:
FC Lugano
Titulares:
class=”wg_loader”>
