Maltese football woke up buzzing with pride yesterday after Valletta and Birkirkara progressed to the second qualifying rounds in UEFA club competitions on Tuesday.

The Citizens reached the next round of the Champions League early stages after eliminating B36 Torshavn on the away goals rule despite losing the second leg 2-1 in the Faroes Islands.

Birkirkara produced the performance of the night as they brushed aside Bosnia’s Siroki Brijeg 2-0 at the Hibs Stadium to complete an impressive 3-1 aggregate win.

The results achieved were a timely shot in the arm for Maltese football which had rarely seen two Premier League clubs progress past the first hurdle in Europe at one go.

Paul Zammit, the Valletta coach, was understandably delighted at the end of the match at the Gundadalur Stadium as he praised his players’ resilience to fend off B36’s pressure.

Zammit told Times of Malta: “These two matches against B36 were not easy as they are a strong team, not only physically.

“Added to that, we played B36 when they are midway through their national league. In fact, they have already played 20 matches while for us these were the first two competitive matches of the new campaign.

“In the end, they pressed hard for a third goal but we showed great resilience to make sure of qualification.”

Valletta’s Federico Falcone scored at home and away against B36 Torshavn.

The Valletta coach said he was pleased Birkirkara had also progressed in the Europa League and said the results should instigate club administrators to work harder to help our football reach higher levels.

“Maltese clubs have made some progress in recent years and they’re on the right path but a lot more needs to be done to raise the levels even higher,” Zammit said.

“Our administrators strive to create a better structure but at times it’s still not enough to bridge the gap with other countries where the rate of development is faster. But this should only increase our resolve to invest more and maintain the upward trend.”

Next up for Valletta is a tie against Serbian giants Red Star Belgrade.

“Red Star start favourites, no doubt,” Zammit said.

“But in circumstances like this I keep urging my players to give their all notwithstanding the challenge. We have to earn the respect of the others and make teams like Red Star fight hard to beat us.”

Birkirkara coach Drazen Besek singled out his team’s tactical organisation as key to eliminate Siroki Brijeg.

“In the first leg we had already shown that if we play to our strength we could cause them problems,” Besek said.

“On Tuesday, the players were very organised tactically and pressed very hard, making it very difficult for Siroki to settle down. We had other chances to score and, overall, I think we deserved to go through.

“This result is a great confidence boost for the club. It’s the second successive time for Birkirkara to surpass the first round in the Europa League. I think that other teams of our level may not like being paired with us in future.”

Birkirkara’s next opponents will be crack Scottish Premiership side Hearts. Besek re-mains confident the Stripes can cause an-other upset.

“After this result, we have an equal chance to progress never mind who we play against,” Besek reckoned.

“Euro 2016 has taught us that it’s not important how big your football tradition is but what matters is how you play on the day.

“My players are willing to train hard so that makes me more confident that we can continue with our European journey.”