FC Krasnodar 3
Birkirkara 1
(FC Krasnodar win 6-1 on aggregate)
FC Krasnodar took just 45 minutes to put seal on their qualification to the Europa League play-off round when they eased past Birkirkara 3-1 at the Kuban Stadium and complete a 6-1 aggregate win.
After last week’s emphatic 3-0 win at the Hibs Stadium, the Russians came into yesterday’s second leg all but assured of progressing to the next round and Oleg Khononov’s men further rubberstamped their qualification when netting three goals without reply.
The hosts were regaled with an opener on 15 minutes as Birkirkara goalkeeper Miroslav Kopric’s short pass to Emerson Marcelina put the Brazilian under pressure and his attempted clearance hit Kouassi Eboue with the ball rolling into an unguarded net.
The Stripes look rattled and Krasnodar scored twice in the space of a minute to all but kill off the tie.
On 37 minutes Dmitri Torbinski put Joaozinho clear and the Brazilian striker cooly slotted the ball past Kopric.
The Stripes had little time to recover before Krasnodar made it 3-0 a minute later.
From another quick foray Wanderson played in Ricardo Laborde who chipped the ball over the onrushing Kopric.
That turned out to be Laborde’s last contribution as he sufferedan injury and was replaced by Ari.
On the restart, Drazen Besek, the Birkirkara coach, roped in Predrag Jovic for Marcelina, and the new entrant soon left his mark when he pulled a goal back for Birkirkara.
From a corner action, Jovic connected to Srdjan Dimitrov’s delivery to head past Krasnodar goalkeeper Andrei Sinitsin on 61 minutes.
Krasnodar could have added a fourth goal in stoppage time when Edward Herrera brought down Vladimir Bystrov inside the area.
But from the spot, Wanderson saw his shot coming off the bar.
But that little mattered as Krasnodar were long home and dry.
Krasnodar: A. Sinitsin, S. Strandberg, A. Martynovich, D. Torbinski (79 M. Pereyra), C. Kabore (69 I. Gazinski), R. Laborde (40 Ari), Wanderson, V. Bystrov, Joaozinho, K. Eboue, S. Petrov.
Birkirkara: M. Kopric, E. Herrera, C. Bubalovic, G. Sciberras, E. Marcelina (45 P. Jovic), S. Dimitrov (77 D. Djordjevic), V. Plut, S. Bajada (46 F. Temile), J. Zerafa, C. Attard, M. Andelkovic.
Referee: A. Aghayev (Azerbaijan).