"Virtus" for the first time in its history reached the Eurocup playoff round // Photo: acvirtus.com
The Orhei team traveled to San Marino after a difficult win at home a week ago (3:2), when the opponents twice equalized through Stefano Scappini’s efforts. Only a goal by Nigerian international Ime Ndon a minute before the end of the main time allowed the Moldovan club to make a small margin before the return match. In that match, Milsami captain Radu Ginsari suffered a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament. According to the club representatives, the striker will miss the rest of the season.
The return meeting did not go according to the scenario of Igor Pikuschak’s wards. Although the Moldovan club had more shots at the opponent’s goal (12 against 10), none of them reached the goal. Scappini opened the scoring in the 58th minute, and Ivan Buonocuonto made a double, scoring in the 65th and 79th minutes. It is noteworthy that the authors of Virtus’ goals are age players: Scappini is 37 years old and Buonocuonto is 39. On the sum of two matches “Milsami” suffered a defeat (3:5) from the club from San Marino and unexpectedly left the Conference League.
Virtus vice-president Alessandro Cattini said in an interview with San Marino TV that he was happy with the way the club made history by advancing to the third round of the playoffs (where it will face Iceland’s Breiðablik). According to him, the players showed high concentration and dedication in the return match.
After the first match with “Anderlecht”, held in Belgium and lost with a score 0:3, “Sheriff” has only theoretical chances to qualify for the play-off round, preceding the group tournament. At the request of the Belgian side, the match, as in the case of the Dutch Utrecht, was moved from Tiraspol, but this time to the Zimbru stadium in Chisinau.
The gates of both teams remained untouched until the 72nd minute, when the visitors’ midfielder Nathan-Dylan Saliba struck Ivan Dulgerov’s goal. Elijah Odede scored Sheriff’s only goal in the two-match encounter in the 81st minute. Having lost with a final score of 1:4, the Tiraspol team left the European Cup.
Anderlecht will continue the fight for the group round – the next opponent will be the Greek AEK.
