Bulgaria’s Ludogorets Continues Marvelous Run in Europe

Hristo Zlatinski (L), was the hero for Ludogorets on the night. Photo by Ludogorec.net

Bulgarian football champions Ludogorets Razgrad earned their 3rd successive win in the Europa League group stage, after beating Chernomorets Odessa 1:0 in Ukraine.

The hosts from Odessa came out strong, pushing from the very early minutes. The Ludogorets defense seemed a little shaky, but the team managed to pull out of this period unscathed.

In the latter stages of the first half, the Bulgarians regained their confidence and charged more often at the opponent’s goal. Both sides were playing dynamic football, creating chances, but the finishing seemed poor.

And so came the final 45th minute of the half, which proved to be lucky for the Razgrad side. The team earned a free kick in a close range to the goal. Hristo Zlatinski fired the ball, which seemed to be heading straight for goalkeeper Bezotosnyi’s hands, but the Ukrainian was unstable and committed an error rarely seen at this level of football.

The second half was all Chernomorets. The introduction of Franck Dja Djedje was a positive move for the Ukrainians, as he caused the Bulgarian defense much headache on the left wing. Again, however, the final touch was missing, and the home side squandered its good chances.

A key figure for keeping the final score 1:0 was Bulgarian goalkeeper Vladislav Stoyanov, who played yet another fantastic match.

With this win, Ludogorets remain 1st in Group B with 9 points and no conceded goals. This is the best ever start to a European club tournament’s groups for a Bulgarian side. PSV Eindhoven are 2nd with 4 points, followed by Chernomorets with 3 and Dinamo Zagreb with 1.

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