The European journey continues: Botev falls in Mostar

Zrinjski moves forward! For the third consecutive year, the Nobles will play in the play-offs for a spot in the group stage of a UEFA competition!

After losing 2-1 in Bulgaria, the Nobles managed to overturn Botev’s advantage from the first leg with a 2-0 victory tonight in front of their home fans, securing a spot in the final round of qualifications for the UEFA Europa Conference League.

In a highly eventful match, we celebrated goals by Nardin Mulahusejnović and Tomislav Kiš, and Mario Ivanković’s team wasn’t discouraged even after missing a penalty at 0-0.

The visitors started the match stronger, but in the 22nd minute, we had a great opportunity to cancel out Botev’s lead from the first leg. After a foul on Matija Malekinušić, a penalty was rightly awarded, but Frano Mlinar’s shot was saved by Hans Christian Bernat.

However, we scored in the 39th minute when Nardin Mulahusejnović brilliantly headed in a cross from Kerim Memija, and just two minutes later, the visitors were down to ten men after Antoine Conte was directly sent off for elbowing Malekinušić.

In the closing minutes of the first half, the visitors created a clear chance through their quick wingers, but Samuel Akere failed to score the equalizer—Marko Marić made an excellent save to prevent Botev from scoring.

In the second half, we patiently broke down the visitors’ resistance, and we secured the goal that earned us a place in the play-offs in the 83rd minute when Kiš found the back of Bernat’s net after an assist from Mario Ćuže.

In the final moments, Botev tried to score a goal that would send the match into extra time, but the result remained unchanged.

Well done, Nobles!

39′ |  1:0 – Mulahusejnović

83′ |  2:0 – Kiš

HŠK Zrinjski: Marić, Ćorluka (6. Memija), Šunjić, Barišić, Tičinović, Mlinar (62. Kiš), Posavec (62. Savić), Ivančić, Ćuže, Malekinušić (80. Abdurahimi), Mulahusejnović.

PFK Botev: Bernat, Minkov, Tamn, Conte, Balogiiannis, Perera, Karabelyov (86. Triboulet), Nwachukwu (56. Korosec), Popov (79. Maraš), Akere (46. Ukaki), Sekulić (46. Diabate).