VALLETTA 1

FC PARTIZAN 4

Valletta’s high expectations of doing well in the Champions League took a setback when they were beaten at home by strong FC Partizan 4-1 in the first leg of the second qualifying round yesterday, practically killing all hopes of making any progress in the competition.

The 24-times champions from Belgrade, who enjoy a fine pedigree in European competitions, were superior throughout and made sure of their win, and qualification, with three first half goals.

Valletta improved in the second half and even managed to score a deserved consolation goal before conceding a fourth.

Their defending, especially from set pieces left much to be desired.

The match was played in an electrifying atmosphere.

The presence of many Partizan supporters, even in the street around the Hibernians stadium, gave a sense of unrest, even because quite a good number of them were not allowed inside the stadium, despite holding match tickets, as the stadium was filled to capacity.

Around the half hour, a few Partizan fans jumped over and made their way inside the warming up area, unfurling a big black banner.

They were stopped by the police who had also to intervene to stop other fans entering the stadium after forcing open the back door behind the Partizan goal post.

Valletta had Jhonnattan and Jusselio starting on the bench, with Ryan Fenech and Dyson Falzon given the nod instead.

Partizan immediately took a stranglehold in midfield through Louvre and Sascha Markovic as Lazar Markovic and Tomic exploited the width down the flanks.

Valletta had only been chasing their opponents for six minutes when they fell behind to Partizan’s early lead.

Lazar Markovic played a through ball wide to Nemanja Tomic who unleashed a delicate chip with his outstep over keeper Krul.

Sharper, quicker and stronger, Partizan allowed Valletta no comfort on the ball. The Citizens were forced to keep almost always six and seven players behind the ball as the Serbs pressed them high.

Denni and Mifsud were given little service to exploit their agility up front although a Valletta long clearance after 12 minutes, almost fell good at Mifsud’s feet but Volkov cleared before the Valletta striker could inflict damage, with the Partzian keeper off his line.

Partizan threatened again past the quarter hour. Lazar Markovic raced through the middle for Tomic’s cross but his shot was providentially footed out by the Valletta keeper as Babovic shot the rebound wide.

Although Valletta were unable to move the ball on the ground and more often than not had to play long harmless balls forward in dead areas, Partizan’s second goal past the half hour came from a set piece, courtesy of some loose marking in the Valletta rearguard.

Partizan’s Bulgarian centre back Ivan Ivanov headed in Babovic’s corner from the right and again, the Valletta defence leaked water three minutes before the break.

Babovic did the work on the left, drawing two opponents before creating space in the middle for the unmolested Stefan Scepovic to toe poke the ball past the helpless keeper.

Valletta introduced other Brazilian midfielder Joao Gabriel for Azzopardi, with Falzon dropping to left back, and tried to knit some passes together.

Denni’s good run and dribble ended with his shot deflected into corner.

When forced to substitute the injured Lazar Markovic on 57 minutes, Partizan lost much of their vigour. Valletta capitalized.

On the hour Denni’s good work on the left provided a testing cross to Gabriel who skied the ball in front of goal.

On 65 minutes, Valletta’s efforts were rewarded. Denni played a through ball to Michael Mifsud to beat the static Partizan defence and slot a low diagonal shot past keeper Stojkovic.

In went Jhonnattan for Fenech as Valletta ended up playing with six foreigners.

But Partizan soon restored their three-goal cushion as the Valletta defence again looked vulnerable from dead ball situations.

Babovic whacked a deep free kick from the right, the keeper failed to intercept and Milos Ostojic rose high to head in.

Valletta looked drained, unable to summon enough effort. Substitute Zubya was twice denied by keeper Krul. Valletta’s best on the night was not enough.

Valletta: A. Krul, I. Azzopardi (J. Gabriel), W. Barbosa, R. Barreto, S. Borg (E. Agius), R. Briffa, J. Caruana,

D. Dos Santos, D. Falzon, R. Fenech (Jhonnattan), M. Mifsud

FC Partizan: V. Stojkovic, N. Aksentijevic, V. Volkov, M. Ostojic, I. Ivanov, G. Louvre (S. Ilic), S. Markovic, N. Tomic (M. Zubya), S. Babovic, L. Markovic (N. Ninkovic), S. Scepovic

Referee: L. Liany (Israel)

Scorers: N. Tomic 6, I. Ivanov 33, S. Scepovic 42, M. Mifsud 65, M. Ostojovic 40