SPORTSWORLD.AM
In the second leg of the Conference League qualifying round, Yerevan's Pyunik hosted the Hungarian Gyor. The Yerevan club approached this match with a slight advantage. Yeghishe Melikyan's men ended the match at Yerevan's Vazgen Sargsyan Republican Stadium with a victory (2:1).
Before this match, Nigerian striker Yusuf Olaytan Otubanjo left Pyunik, whom the Armenian specialist referred to during the pre-match press conference, saying, "It's a serious loss for us, but this is football." Compared to the previous match, Yeghishe Melikyan made no changes to the starting lineup.
"Dyor" had no dangerous moments in the opening fifteen minutes and "Pyunik" was clearly defending, but in the 16th minute, Felipe Almeida did not offer the opponent a fight and Nadir Benbouali scored with a header, which was defended by Henry Avagyan.
After achieving success, "Dyor" resorted to pressing actions, positioning itself on the approaches to the penalty area of the Armenian representative and trying to develop the success.
"Dyor" resorted to rough play fifteen minutes before the end of regular time in the first half.
The Hungarian club organized the attacks, particularly on the right flank, with the help of Nfansu Niye.
The "Pomegranate" likes to score goals on the way to the dressing room, but this time it didn't work out: Marius Nubissi appeared in the penalty area of the team led by Balazs Borbeli, to whom Javi Moreno offered his help, the 29-year-old Cameroonian footballer preferred not to pass the ball and shot, which was saved by Samuel Petras. Thus, the teams went into the break with an equal score in the overall confrontation.
Gyor started the second half actively, but the master of the situation was Henry Avagyan. Gavrich was the most active.
Paul Anton and his teammates increase the pressure and stop Pyunik's attacks with fouls.
In the 67th minute of the match, Yeghishe Melikyan made a double substitution. Matas Vareika and Daniel Kolikov were replaced by Erik Okans and Karlen Hovhannisyan.
The head coach of Armenia's most titled club also said at a press conference yesterday that a difficult match is expected for Pyunik, and everyone watching the match will be convinced of that.
The changes made by Yeghishe Melikyan bear fruit, as a result of the cooperation of Mikhail Kovalenko and Eric Ocansi, who entered the field, the score of the confrontation is equalized (3:3).
Pyunik was unable to maintain the balance of the score after a corner kick in the last minute of regular time, when Daniel Šteful put his team ahead in the confrontation. Thus, Pyunik suffered a painful defeat and was eliminated from the further competition.
Armenia had another representative in the Conference League today. Ararat-Armenia hosted Universitatea Cluj in the second leg of the second qualifying round and won 2:1.
Let's recall that in the Yerevan game, Manuel Tulipa's men ended the match with a goalless draw.
Let's add that the head coach of the Romanian club, Ovidiu Sabeu, said after the match, "Ararat-Armenia is a weak opponent, we will overcome their obstacle and move forward." With this mentality, they approached the return match, which had a sad ending for them.
Jovo Lukic opened the scoring, but no more goals were scored in the first half. Kamo Hovhannisyan equalized in the 53rd minute. The match went into extra time. In the 117th minute, Paul Ayongo, through a partnership with Jonathan Dustre, put Arararat-Armenia ahead.
Thus, the Black and Whites qualify for the third round of the Champions League qualifying round, where they will face Sparta Prague.