Maribor without a win in Europe for the seventh time in a row: Birkirkara leads the way with a masterful goal, Brnić secures the draw from the white spot
11 matches. One European victory. And the seventh (!) consecutive European game in which
Maribor
has not tasted the taste of glory. At least this time it did not end in defeat, although it did smell like it for a while. But even a draw is a result Maribor cannot be satisfied with. It is already true that
Birkirkara
has achieved some notable successes in international competitions in recent years, but Maribor went into the showdown on home soil as favourites. But at least he got a little toasted. Not as much as Domžale, which is
Balzan beat them 4:1
, but still. Birkirkara got a result they are certainly happy with, but Maribor can’t be happy with a 1-1 draw.
The fact that the Violets, playing in their new jerseys, were better than Birkirkara is as true as nailed. The home team had possession of the ball for almost 80% of the game! Birkirkara scored with the only shot on target, coach Damir Krznar’s squad fired 11 times, but were very, very inaccurate. While guests in 31. Maribor took the lead in the first minute with a masterful goal by Paulo Mbongo (he hit the home net with a shot from 30 metres, but it is also true that Maribor’s defenders simply left him too much space), Maribor scored the only goal from the 11th minute penalty spot.
After just over an hour of play, Croatian newcomer Marko Kolar was stopped on the edge of the penalty area with a foul, and it didn’t help that the guests protested vehemently to the referee. Maybe VAR would have saved them if he had been at the game, but probably not… Ivan Brnić set the ball in the white spot and scored, although Birkirkara goalkeeper Marcel Zapytowski touched the round leather. Nevertheless, he was not able to prevent the goal, which was – believe it or not – the first European one for the Styrians after six games of shooting stoppage time.
And before and after Brnić’s goal, Maribor had a few more scoring chances. In the end, the hosts put a lot of pressure on the Maltese goal, but – like a few years ago in Ljubljana – they showed themselves to be a very solid defensive team. Then Mustafa Nukić found a way to lead Olimpija to victory, this time Maribor had to settle for a draw.
Another unpleasant experience for Maribor: injury to Soudanija on debut
That nothing is lost is as true as nailed. The battle for promotion is still wide open. But Maribor residents would no doubt like to have a much different experience before heading to a hot island in the Mediterranean. Not to mention the injury to Hillal Soudani, who had to leave the game before the end of the first half…
This text was automatically translated using AI.
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