While fans of Maltese football are thrilled with the historic result achieved in the second qualifying round of the UEFA Europa Conference League, the atmosphere in Serbian football is completely the opposite right now.
Radnicki coach, Tomislav Sivic, described his team’s elimination at the hands of Gżira United as shameful.
Darren Abdilla’s Gżira produced one of the most astonishing results in Maltese football after dumping out the Serbian side following a penalty shoot-out.
After the 2-2 draw in the first leg at the Centenary Stadium, Radnicki found an early goal in Thursday’s second leg on home soil. Nonetheless, Gżira always found a way to level terms as Radnicki were ahead on three occasions.
A 102nd minute goal by Jefferson forced the tie to extra-time before Maxuell’s leveller in the 117th minute sent the qualifier to penalties where the Maroons triumphed with a perfect record from the spot and a brilliant showing by goalkeeper Darijan Zarkov.
“This is a shame, these are scandalous mistakes,” Sivic told a news conference after the game.
“We cannot score as many goals as we concede, doing silly mistakes.
Of course, I take the responsibility on myself. This is a shame and now we will sit down to solve it immediately, because there are many things that are not good.”
Sivic pointed out that their opponents cannot capitalise on every chance they get because otherwise they will not be in a position to achieve positive results.
“Unreal mistakes are repeated again, as during all previous games,” he continued.
“We have 30 seconds to preserve the lead at the end of the match. We cannot control the lead, therefore we don’t deserve to go through.”
Asked about whether he was stepping down from his post, coach Sivic said that this was not the place to resign.
“It is a shame to be eliminated by a Maltese side, regardless of all the circumstances,” the Radnicki coach added.
