Birkirkara were about 15 minutes away from qualifying for the Second Qualifying Round of the Europa Conference League but NK Maribor managed to turn a loss into a 2-1 victory, and they were the ones to advance with a 3-2 aggregate.
Birkirkara took the lead in the 19th minute when the referee ordered a penalty after Uskokovic was seen handling the ball in the area after a shot by Andrei Ciolacu. From the 11 meters, it was Yannik Yankam who beat Jug.
Maribor reacted on the 28th minute when Repas found Kolar unmarked, but thankfully for Birkirkara, the Croatian attacker did not hit the ball which continued into a throw-in.
Birkirkara were on the attack in the 40th minute with the precise step of Yankam, who found Ciolacu who seemed to be coming face to face with the opposing goalkeeper, but it was Uskokovic who with a timely intervention threw the ball into a corner.
In the second half, as expected, Maribor increased the pressure to look for the goal with the Stripes welcoming the opponents right from the start.
In the 76th minute, Maribor captain Martin Milec's shot from outside went wide and four minutes later, Birkirkara's troubles began with Maribor's first goal.
It was a cross from Brnic in the small box, with the Birkirkara defense failing to react and the ball falling to the feet of the substitute Arnel Jakupovic, who immediately beat Zapytowski with a shot.
Birkirkara tried to react two minutes later, when from a personal action, the substitute Italo Montano tried a shot from the edge of the box, with the opposing goalkeeper holding it with difficulty in two attempts.
The goal to ultimately eliminate Birkirkara from the copetition arrived in the 88th minute, when another substitute, Albanian Xhuliano Skuka advanced along the line and despite being marked tightly by Coppola, he managed to enter the box and go around the Birkirkara goalkeeper and with a strong shot he put the ball at the back of the net amid the joy of the few Slovenian fans in the Centenary Stadium, players and the directors of NK Maribor.
Birkirkara tried to increase the forces in the attack but it was all for nothing as NK Maribor kept the advantage of 2-1 and with an aggregate of 3-2 they were the ones who advanced to the next round.
28 penalties needed for Maroons to qualify
Gzira United qualified to the second round of the Europa Conference League after a 28penalty shoot-out. The score after 120 minutes was locked at 1-1, and Gzira finally qualified 14-13 on penalties.
Like in the first leg in Malta, Glentoran missed an early penalty. This time it was Burns who missed from the spot. The Maroons took the lead on 67 minutes through Macula but Glentoran saved the match in the 12th minute of stoppage time when Burns made amends by scoring the equaliser.
No further goals were scored in extra time, and the match had to be decided by penalties. The penalty shoot-out proved to be an endless exercise with 28 penalties taken, with Gzira scoring all their 14 shots, and with Boyd making the decisive error for Glentoran on the 28th penalty.