Losing Qarabag Impresses With Fair Play; end of story for Celtic


Thursday, February 24, 2022 at 8:39 PM• Dominic Mostert

Olympique Marseille, Leicester City, Bodö/Glimt and Partizan Belgrade have qualified for the eighth finals of the Conference League. On Thursday evening, Marseille won 0-3 against Qarabag, who had a self-made goal disallowed due to a handball. Leicester were too strong for Randers for the second time, while Bodö/Glimt and Partizan Belgrade again won against Celtic and Sparta Prague respectively.

Randers – Leicester City 1-3
Leicester City was much too strong for Randers (4-1) in front of their own audience and soon showed in Denmark that a comeback was not possible. In the second minute came the Foxes ahead. After losing the ball in midfield, the Randers players were out of position and Harvey Barnes was able to come up undisturbed on the left wing, before reaching the right corner with a controlled shot: 0-1. In the final phase, James Maddison lifted the margin to three, by sorting out both top corners. He made it 0-2 from a beautiful free kick in the left corner, after which a long shot in the right corner made it 0-3. The last word was up to Randers, because Stephen Odey made it 1-3.

Bodö/Glimt – Celtic 2-0
Bodö/Glimt was one of the surprises in the Conference League group stage, going unbeaten and taking twelve points in a group with AS Roma. At home, the Norwegians even beat Roma 6-1, but second place turned out to be the highest attainable. In Scotland, Bodö/Glimt took the lead after six minutes and this time it lasted eight minutes. The visitors were suddenly with five men in the penalty area and Ola Solbakken pushed the ball into the left corner. Hugo Vetlesen determined the final score in the second half with a controlled shot from a well-played attack.

Qarabag – Olympique Marseille 0-3
Arek Milik scored twice in the 3-1 win last week, but this time started on the bench. He saw Pape Gueye open the score in the twelfth minute: the midfielder received a through pass from Dimitri Payet in the penalty area and found the far right corner from a difficult position with a low shot: 0-1. Qarabag appeared to come alongside via Ibrahima Wadji, but he worked the ball in by hand. Players protested fiercely; eventually even the trainer and captain of Qarabag admitted that it was a handball. As a result, the referee, unable to rely on a video referee, declared the goal invalid. Thirteen minutes before the end, Mattéo Guendouzi struck with a bet from outside the box: 0-2; in stoppage time it was 0-3 via substitute Konrad de La Fuente.

Partizan Belgrade – Sparta Prague 2-1
Last week Queensy Menig scored the only goal of the game, but this time Ricardo Gomes was the main protagonist. He gave Partizan a comfortable lead with two goals in the first 25 minutes. In the seventh minute, Gomes was reached by Sasa Zdjelar, he misled his guard and pushed the ball under the goalkeeper. Gomes then headed through the ground from a corner by Milos Jojic. Halfway through the second half, however, the striker received his second yellow card after an alleged schwalbe in the penalty area, which forced Partizan to continue with ten men. Sparta came back to 2-1 via Adam Hlozek, but that was it.