Serbia remains in the race for participation in the European Championship. In the semi-finals of the Division C qualifying play-offs in the Nations League, Dusan Tadic and associates were too strong for Norway in the Ullevaal Stadium in Oslo on Thursday evening after extra time: 1-2. Tadic assisted Sergej Milinkovic-Savic’s winning goal. In the final on November 12, Serbia will take on Scotland or Israel. The ‘golden generation’ of Norway, with goldcrests like Erling Braut Haaland, Martin Ödegaard and Sander Berge, misses the final round.

That there were no goals in the first half was not due to a lack of opportunities. On the Serbian side, Aleksandar Mitrovic, in particular, was not fortunate in the completion. After eighteen minutes, the attacker was served in the penalty area by a retracting cross from Tadic from the right flank; the hard header Mitrovic was kept out of the goal by goalkeeper Rune Jarstein’s fingertips. Ten minutes before the break, a tight pass from Tadic ended up at Darko Lazovic, whose cross ended up at Mitrovic. Centrally in front of the goal, near the five-meter line, the ball slid wide.

Serbia was more dangerous than Norway in the first half, but the host also came close to scoring. After half an hour, a corner from the right flank landed on the head of Haaland, whose header was taken off the line by Nemanja Maksimovic. In the second half, Serbia turned on and the guests seemed to be pulling the game eight minutes before time, when a free kick from Tadic ended up in Mitrovic from midfield. The striker enabled Milinkovic-Savic to hit from close range two minutes after his raid. But Norway forced an extension: two minutes before the end, Mathias Normann darted past the penalty area and hit diagonally in the left corner.

Serbia seized the lead in the first half of the extension. Mitrovic found Lazovic on the right flank, who in turn served Tadic just in front of goal. Instead of going for his own success, Tadic passed the ball to Milinkovic-Savic, who bounced the ball over Jarstein from a difficult angle: 1-2. Serbia completed the game in the second half of extra time. Norway was of course looking for the equalizer, but by passionately defending Serbia no longer created great opportunities.