Zivzivadze's double sees us beat FC Petrocub Hîncești away

In the first leg of the third qualifying round of the ECL, Vidi won 5-0 against FC Petrocub Hîncești from Moldova, so we went into the match on Thursday evening at the Zimbru Stadium in Chisinau with a comfortable lead. Head coach Michael Boris made seven changes from last week's starting line-up, with Rockov, Pokorny and Lüftner among the new additions. Rockov - Fiola, Lüftner, Stopira - Nego, Pokorny, Makarenko, Hangya - Funsho, Dárdai - Zivzivadze.

The game started with a good Moldavian situation, in the 9th minute Cojocaru received a nice clearance, he drove the ball towards our goal alone, but Rockov was able to dart out with excellent pace and clear with his foot. Two minutes later, Nego tried to trick the home goalkeeper from the right wing and instead of crossing, he lifted it towards goal, Avram had to save from under the crossbar. In the 21st minute, Makarenko's long-range shot went over the bar. Ten minutes later, following a pass from Dárdai, Zivzivadze calmly found the back of the net from 14 metres (0-1).

However, we could not be happy for long, a minute later after a corner kick for the home side, Pokorny pulled down his opponent inside the box, and Sandu scored the penalty to make it (1-1).The score remained for 5 minutes, but then Zivzivadze struck again. He received a nice ball from Dardai and then shot into the home goal with a great flick from 13 meters (1-2). 

In the second half, Dárdai, who provided two assists, was replaced by Kodro, and in the 62nd minute Stopira, Zivzivdze and Makarenko left the pitch, replaced by Heister, Bumba and Pinto. It was the 69th minute when Kodro shot from seven yards out following a cross from the wing, the ball bounced off a defender to Nego, who had a chance to score from 15 yards, but the ball was again blocked. At the other end, Lupan, Bejan and Revenco also tried to score from distance, but each time the attempt missed the target.

In the second half, the teams fought hard, but this period brought neither a goal nor any serious scoring chances. Our team confidently qualified for the playoffs of the ECL with a 7-1 aggregate score, where 1. FC Köln will be waiting for us. The first match will be played next Thursday in Cologne, the return match on 25 August at the MOL Arena Sósto. But before that, Sunday evening will see us visit Ferencváros in the league.