Vardar has done it, becoming the first Macedonian club to qualify for the group stages of the Europa League.
If you were lucky enough to spend 1 euro and bet on a Vardar win, the payout would’ve been a whopping 20 euros. This is how little chances bookmakers gave Vardar despite winning the first leg 2-0.
Similarly to the first match, Fenerbahce had control over the ball and enjoyed 70% ball possession, however, it was the Macedonian champion who created more chances which resulted in rattling the post, then the crossbar and scored two goals in the end.
Janevski’s game plan was superb, and this is an understatement. Vardar defended up high, near the midfield and pounced on counter attacks. It was a five minute lapse by the Macedonian team who started defending way too deep in their own penalty box which essentially led to the Fenerbahce goal by Russian national Roman Neustadter.
In the end, Fenerbahce’s attempts seeking a second goal resulted in two goals by Vardar, both via counter attacks. The first was scored by Jigauri, and then Nikola Gligorov wrapped up the match in injury time for a 2-1 win.
The ultimate shocker came after the second goal for Vardar when 40,000 Turks begun chanting “Vardar, Vardar”, which according to Nikola Gligorov was a surreal experience.
Vardar is now looking at earning around 10 million euros in the next few months. Totally deserved.
Fenerbahce:
Carlos Kameni – Roman Neustadter – Mauricio Isla – Ismail Köybaşı – Martin Skrtel – Mathieu Valbuena – Mehmet Topal – Nabil Dirar – Ozan Tufan – – Alper Potuk – Robin Van Persie
Vardar:
Filip Gacevski – Evgeni Novak – Darko Velkoski – Vladica Brdarovski – Hovhannes Hambardzumyan – Stefan Spirovski – Dejan Blazevski – Jambul Jighauri – Juan Alves Ribeiro – Boban Nikolov – Tigran Barseghyan
