Minhotos weren’t clever. Ex-Benfica player thwarts Vitória SC in farewell to Europe

Vitória SC was eliminated from the Europa League Cup last Friday, after the 4-3-2 victory over NK Celje last weekend; after that match was decided on penalties, with Slovenia having more success in scoring maximum penalties than the teammates from Guimarães (loss of 1 to 0 for them against Guimarães fans on penalties). The pair then agreed on an instant replay against Guimarães for this Friday’s clash between Guimarães fans (1-0 victory by them over Vitória fans; penalty resolution being used instead).

After several goals scored against Slovenia last week, fans expected some excitement at the Estádio D. Afonso Henriques tonight; unfortunately, however, that never happened as expected; instead, the first half took too long to get going.

As the interval of a competitive match that started slowly approached, waiting on the margins was necessary for André Silva and Dani Silva to score quickly on their respective key shots to make a fast and convincing goal. Both players finally attempted their shots, which quickly resulted in goals for either respective side; first Andre Silva and then Dani Silva saw Zec remove it right after the goal line for effective scoring opportunities.

On the other hand, NK Celje also didn’t do much to match their opponent in this elimination tie. Coming from Slovenia, they managed to control operations during the initial part, without creating much danger on a winning play by Bruno Varela; but their biggest difficulty came during the second half.

Celje made an aggressive start in their debut in the complementary phase and shocked Guimarães with the first goal in the 64th minute, when Nemanic skillfully cushioned and Bajde finished for a spectacular turnaround (4-4 tie).

The home team tried to regain control of the elimination battle, but the visitors came within inches of completing a stunning turnaround in the 80th minute. Popovic missed the entry into the area, but hit the ball near Baliza, who suffered a deflected shot that almost hit Varela.

Vitória SC fell even further behind their rival in the final minutes trying to prevent a prolonged match from restarting. The Vimaranenses ended up winning by two goals in full time; Rozman blocked the powerful shot by Zé Carlos, who came from Rozman’s first-half penalty defense – still, this match lasted more hours.

Celje had some success during extra time. They could have scored closer to halftime during this first part of extra time. Bizjak worked well with Edmilson to secure a good save from Varela; during a subsequent play, Popovic was within inches of scoring an own goal.

In the final 15 minutes of this prolonged playing time, Minhottos began to lose some of their initial clarity, leading them to a penalty shootout. Varela once again proved his worth by blocking what seemed to be an impossible goal from Celje.

Vitória SC fell short on the big penalties, with Tiago Silva and Zé Carlos failing, with the former Benfica player, Zec, proving Slovenia’s persistence in European competitions.

Vitória SC became the first Portuguese club to abandon this season’s European Championship competition, suffering early eliminations as happened last season against Hajduk Split and in the third qualifying round of this same season in this same European Conference League Europa Conference competition. Now facing Neman Grodno from Belarus is where their destiny lies for a future clash.

Vitória SC starting lineup: Bruno Varela, Mamadou Tounkara, André Amaro, Mikel Villanueva Miguel Maga Tomas Handel Joao Mendes Dani Silva Afonso Freitas Andre Silva and Jota Silva are in place.

Initial Cinema Reduction Syndrome. Personnel Supplement Charles, José Ribeiro, Manuel Silva, Safira Tiago Silva Nelson da Luz Butzke Ze Carlos Jorge Fernandes Alberto Costa Gonçalo Nogueira Bruno Gaspar.

NK Celje: Matjaz Rozman, Zan Karnicnik, David Zec, Klemen Nemanic, Damjan Vuklisevic and Mark Zabukovnik, as well as Luka Bobicanec, Gregor Badje, Chukwu Ikwuemesi Julien Lamy and Aljosa Matko

Supplements: Jurhar, Kouter, Popovic, Vrbanec Edmilson Speljak and Bizjak

Vitória SC and NK Celje fought fiercely this Friday to determine who would advance to the second leg of the Europa Conference League Group B play-off.

After the 4-3 victory over Slovenia in their inaugural match, Minhottos will try to extend a win at the start of the competition’s official season and close qualification in front of fans.

Case’s confirmation marks a step toward the next phase, in which Arouca already exists and Vitória SC already knows they will face Belarusian Neman Grodno on the list of opponents.

Starting at 8:15 PM at the Estádio D. Afonso Henriques, under the jurisdiction of Ukrainian referee Viktor Kopiievskyi, viewers can follow the unfolding of this match directly through Desporto ao Minuto.