Antwerp advance to the group stage of the Europa League on penalties after a very exciting match

Antwerp started the match against Omonia Nicosia in excellent form. The Great Old quickly looked for an opening goal, but despite many chances in the first fifteen minutes, the ball didn’t want to go in.

Just half an hour ago, Bataille came close to winning 1-0. Miyoshi brought the ball well to the left-back, but the defender headed the ball over Fabiano’s goal across the ground. This was much more for the local side.

However, less than a minute later, Antwerp was a huge success. Egstein headered the ball well to Miyoshi and the quick winger knocked out his opponent and then jumped the ball over Fabiano to the goal: 1-0.

After the goal, relieve the pressure of Antwerp. The host team had another good chance through Egstein, but the striker was unable to pass the ball past Fabiano. 1-0 was the result of the first half.

the other half

Right after the break, Antwerp started looking for 2-0 and Manuel Benson in particular was very energetic. The winger had no less than three excellent chances, but Fabiano always had his way.

However, after the opening quarter in the second half, the storm subsided. Antwerp obviously remained the better team, but there were no real great opportunities after Benson’s attempts.

At the final stage, it is still working for Antwerp. Baliquicha made a great move and passed the ball well to Jerkins. Our compatriot kept calm and hit the ball hard into the net alongside Fabiano. 2-0 and so we also had extra time.

Renovations

No change in overtime, because Antwerp simply remained the better team. However, only great opportunities seem to be missed. Aegstein and Botha approached, but failed to score.

It was Miyoshi’s best overtime opportunity. In Omonia Nicosia, they couldn’t keep the ball away and the Japanese threw the ball over everything and everyone. But his shot hit the crossbar. We couldn’t see any goals anymore, so the penalty shootout had to decide who would go to the Europa League group stage.

Penalty kicks

Immediately something went wrong for Omonia Nicosia on penalties. Jordi Gomez, captain of the team, went behind the ball, but kicked the ball wide of Jean Botiz’s goal. Verstreet took the penalty well across the crossbar and Antwerp immediately advanced 1-0.

Antwerp missed the second penalty kick. Jerkins’ shot was too weak and therefore not a problem for Fabiano. Before that, Atemoen managed to score the penalty kick: 1-1. But in the series that followed, they made another foul at Omonia Nicosia, giving Antwerp a 2-1 lead.

With Antwerp’s 3-2 score (Mioshi could take his fourth penalty), Botiz’s moment has come. The Antwerp goalkeeper was awarded the decisive penalty by Omonia Nicosia, thus enabling Antwerp to advance to the group stage of the Europa League after 3-2 in the penalty shootout series.