SPORTSWORLD.AM
In the second leg of the UEFA Conference League first qualifying round, Yerevan's Pyunik hosted Maltese Marsaxlokk.
In the first half, the Yerevan club had chances, most of the attacks were organized on the left wing, but the ball did not cross the goal line. As the head coach of the "Pomegranate" Artak Oseyan noted, "I demanded more concentration from the team," which was evident from the football shown by the eight-time champion of Armenia.
At the beginning of the second half, the Maltese representative began to actively shoot at the goal defended by Henry Avagyan, but the Armenian goalkeeper was on the spot, thanks to whom the scoreboard continued to burn 0:0 in the 74th minute of the match. In the 80th minute of the match, the Yerevan team earned a penalty kick, and Danil Kulikov, who approached the ball, opened the score of the match with an unerring shot, which was the 100th for Pyunik in the European Cup tournaments.
"Alashkert", led by Vahe Gevorgyan, managed to overcome the obstacle of the Kazakh "Yelima" in the post-match penalty shootout. The goalkeeper of the Yerevan team, Arsen Beglaryan, guessed the direction of the shot at the last moment and gave his team a victory in the overall confrontation, advancing to the second round of the UEFA Conference League qualification, where they will face the Romanian "CFR Cluj". Karen Nalbandyan and his teammates will play the first match at home.
According to sportsworld.am, the ten-time Armenian Super Cup winner played a good match considering the score of the confrontation. The "Pomegranate" has a one-goal advantage. Let us remind you that "Pyunik" won the first match of the confrontation with a score of 3:0. In that match, Momo Yansane, Artak Dashyan and Mikhail Kovalenko stood out in the team led by Artak Oseyan. Yerevan's "Alashkert" showed more aggressive football, the first match of this confrontation ended with a score of 1:1.
Thus, Armenia will be represented by four clubs in the second round of the Eurocup qualifiers. Ararat-Armenia, led by Manuel Tulipa, will face the Irish Shamrock Rovers, Pyunik will face the Hungarian Debrecen, Alashkert will face the Romanian representative CFR Cluj. The Armenian Cup winner Noah will also start the fight in the second round of the qualifiers, whose opponent is the vice-champion of Moldova, Zimbru.