On Thursday, July 21, Vorskla Poltava, led by Zorya’s ex-coach Viktor Skripnik, played a nominally home game of the second qualifying round of the Conference League in the capital of Sweden.
Conference League. 2nd round of qualification. The first match
“Vorskla” (Poltava, Ukraine) - AIK (Stockholm, Sweden) - 3:2
Vorskla: Ripper, Perduta, Zaikov, Yavorsky, Batsula, Kozyrenko (Chelyadin, 65), V. Til (Felipe, 88), Putslin, Oleinik, Stepanyuk (Kravchuk, 90+2), Marlison.
Goals: Stepanyuk (4), Kozyrenko (24), Chelyadin (69) - Stefanelli (17), S. Larsson (44).
The Poltava team prepared for the start of the European Cup season in Poland, after which they moved to Stockholm, where they will play both European Cup meetings against the vice-champion of Sweden (in the current draw, the wards of Bartosz Grzelak are third after 15 rounds). Unfortunately, due to the war and injuries, Skrypnik’s team missed several legionnaires who were in the infirmary, as well as Sklyar and Chesnakov. Plus, the Swedish championship is in full swing, and Vorskla has not held official fights for eight whole months.
Despite the forecasts of the bookmakers (the coefficient for the victory of the Stockholm team was 1.54, the success of the Poltava team was 7.30), which considered AIK the unconditional favorite, Vorskla took the lead already in the 4th minute. Kozyrenko crossed from the left flank, and Stepaniuk headed the ball into the net - 1:0.
True, the Swedes soon bounced back. In the 17th minute, the defenders of Poltava did not look after Stefanelli in their penalty area. The Ripper parried the first blow of the Argentinean, but could not beat off the second one - 1:1.
Fortunately, our team did not flinch, and on the 24th, Kozyrenko accurately shot from outside the penalty area into the far corner - 2:1.
But the guests from Ukraine failed to go to the break with an advantage in the score. Sebastian Larsson’s tight shot from the penalty line became an impossible task for the defense and the goalkeeper of Poltava - 2:2.
After the break, the Swedes slightly pressed the guests to their gates, but in the 69th minute the stadium calmed down after a fantastic goal from Chelyadin, who came on as a substitute, “shot” from afar right into the “nine”. Masterpiece - 3:2!
All attempts by AIK to save the match, fortunately, failed. Although at 90+5 minutes only the Ripper’s brilliant reaction saved the guests after Abdirahman’s strike. Be that as it may, Vorskla ended its five-match European Cup streak without a win. To their success in Stockholm, the Poltava team won once almost four years ago, when in October 2018 they beat Azerbaijani Karabakh away - 1: 0.
Match video
The return match between Poltava and Stockholm will be held in the capital of Sweden on July 28.
By the way, in another match of the Conference League, in which potential rivals Vorskla and AIK met in the third qualifying round, the Latvian Valmiera with the player of the Ukrainian youth team Ivan Zhelizkoy lost at home to Shkendia from North Macedonia. (Geye, 45 - Doriev, 9, Gori, 63).
Earlier reported that “Dynamo” tied with “Fenerbahce” in the Champions League qualification.
Photo by FC AIK
Source: Fakty
