Omonia made a jump in qualifying for the Europa League groups in Belgium. The European premiere of the greens at the "Czelamco Arena" stadium was dreamlike, after they prevailed 2-0 against Ghent, in the first meeting of the two teams for the playoffs of the second tier competition.
A result that gives the "clover" a clear lead in qualifying for the Europa League groups, ahead of next Thursday's (23/8) replay at GSP. Charalambous with the help of luck in the 19th minute gave Neil Lennon's team the lead, while the final score was formed by Barker with a "lightning" in the 76th minute, two minutes after entering the field of play. Decisive in the huge success of Omonia it was once again the impressive Fabiano. The Brazilian giants turned down 3-4 big chances by the Belgians in the second half and kept a clean sheet.
How great the achievement of Omonia is testified by the fact that the victory over Ghent is the first Cypriot team in Belgium after 22 attempts. In fact, the tally so far was 21 defeats and one draw!
As for the image of the match, in the first half Omonia was perfectly set up on the pitch, they pressured the Belgians from above, creating an imbalance between their lines. Undaunted, Neil Lennon's players dominated the pitch, were little threatened and went into the dressing room leading 1-0, courtesy of Charalambous' shot.
THE IDENTITY OF THE MATCH
Ghent (Hein Vanhaesebrouck): Roef, Montes, Ngado, Tonurariga, Olsen, Fortuna (46' Ofoe), Coomes, Hong, Huelshanker, Hauge (63' Depoitre), Kuipers.
Concord (Neil Lennon): Fabiano, Matthews, Miletic, Panagiotou, Juste, Letsjaks, Charalambous (74' Papoulis), Diskerud (71' Bezos), Basiro, Bruno (74' Barker), Kakullis (86' Matavz).
Scorer: – / Charalambous 19′, Barker 76′
Yellows: – / Miletic.
Discharges: – / –
Stadium: "Jelamco Arena", Ghent.
Referee: Irfan Pelito (Bosnia).
First Assistant Referee: Davor Belio (Bosnia).
Second Assistant Referee: Senad Ibrisibegovic (Bosnia).
Fourth: Milos Gigovic (Bosnia).
Source: Goal.com.cy