OMONOIA INTO THE CONFERENCE LEAGUE

Omonoia lose the battle, but most decidedly win the war, losing their UEFA Conference League qualifier 1-0 in Baku to Zire, but winning 6-1 on aggregate after last week’s masterclass in Cyprus. As a result, Omonoia qualify for the 2024-2025 UEFA Conference League. They will play in the all-new format, beginning the competition in the League Stage, which has replaced the traditional Group Stage. This is Omonoia’s second time qualifying for the UEFA Conference League, and fourth time qualifying for any European competiton(they have also qualified for the UEFA Europa League twice). All instances have come this decade. This was also Omonoia’s first competitive loss under Valdas Dambrauskas.

As for the match itself, Omonoia traveled to Dalga Arena in Baku to visit Zire with that aforementioned 6-0 lead. Several notables got the night off, such as Willy Semedo and Mariusz Stepinski. Omonoia had the first good chance, Ewandro Costa found Mateo Maric going to the net, but even with ample space and time, Maric skied it over the net. Then, Omer Atzili was able to send Veljko Simic in on goal. In tight quarter, Simic was able to dribble around the goalkeeper Tiago Silva, but his second touch was too heavy and he ran out of room. At the other end, Jeyhun Nuriyev capitalized on a bad giveaway by Maric, but his shot was straight at Fabiano. Then, Magsad Isayev passed in front for Davit Volkov, who put his attempt over the net, closing out a scoreless first half.

Zire continued to press, Volkov set up Nuriyev who again missed the net. After entering the match, Abbas Ibrahim tested Fabiano from a bad angle. The Brazilian keeper got just enough of it to turn it onto the post, it had also been partially blocked by Filip Helander.

Zire did finally get what they were looking for, with some sustained pressure following a corner. Eventually, Isayev was able to cross it in, and Raphael Utzig was able to place a header past Fabiano. Fabiano was not fully set, otherwise he might have been able to make the save, but the shot beat him at the near post in the 79th minute. That was enough to give Zire the win, but Omonoia had long since gotten the job done last week.

Zire(Rashad Sadygov): 97. Tiago Silva(GK), 32. Gismat Aliyev(Captain), 4. Ruan, 3. Ange Mutsinzi, 7. Magsad Isayev(’87 16. Fuad Bayramov), 15. Pierre Zebli(’61 28. Abbas Ibrahim), 29. Jeyhun Nuriyev(’61 10. Giorgi Papunashvili), 6. Eldar Kuliiev(’76 14. Elchin Alicanov), 90. Davit Volkov(’61 11. Rustam Akmedzade), 19. Salifou Soumah, 23. Raphael Utzig

Omonoia(Valdas Dambrauskas): 40. Fabiano(GK, Captain), 24. Amine Khammas, 4. Filip Helander, 5. Senou Coulibaly(’73 22. Adam Lang), 2. Alpha Diounkou(’63 17. Giannis Masouras), 11. Ewandro Costa(’80 33. Mateusz Musialowski), 20. Mateo Maric, 80. Novica Erakovic(’63 31. Ioannis Kousoulos), 21. Veljko Simic(’63 99. Saidou Alioum), 9. Andronikos Kakoullis, 10. Omer Atzili

Andrew Mantzas
Twitter: @MantzasNC