Estonian champions Levadia exit Conference League after extra time defeat
Estonian Meistriliiga champions FCI Levadia Tallinn crashed out of the UEFA Conference League on Thursday after defeat in extra time against champions of Luxembourg Differdange 03.
Levadia missed out on a golden opportunity to advance to the play-off round of this year's Conference League after going into Thursday night's second leg with a 3-2 aggregate lead.
With no goals until the 89th minute, it looked like Levadia would hold on to their advantage and book a spot in the next round. Differdange, however, had other ideas. German forward Andreas Buch put the visitors in front on the night, and, with the tie level at 3-3, forced extra time.
It didn't take long after the restart to Levadia to get back in front, thanks to Gambian striker Bubacarr Tambedou, who struck on 92 minutes to restore the Estonian side's aggregate lead.
In the second half of extra time, Buch scored again, this time converting a free header from a corner on 106 minutes. Things went from bad to worse for Levadia a minute later when Nigerian center half Victory Sunday Iboro picked up a second yellow card for a foul on Buch.
Despite being down to ten men for the last 14 minutes, Levadia seemed to have clung on for penalties, until captain Rasmus Peetson handled in the area and the referee pointed to the spot in the 118th minute.
In the 118th minute, Differdange was awarded a penalty when Peetson was whistled for handball in the box. Moroccan forward Samir Hadji converted from 12 yards to send Differdange into the play-offs and Levadia out of European competition for another year.
It finished 3-1 to Differdange on the night, and 5-4 on aggregate.
"It's very difficult emotionally right now," Levadia captain Rasmus Peetson told ERR after the game.
"We controlled the game in the first half, we had possession, but we couldn't create anything dangerous. We didn't have any corners or anything, they remained very calm at the back. We didn't run behind them, the game stayed flat. In the second half, they changed their game, pressed a little higher and unfortunately we couldn't stop that in the end."
Differdange will now play FC Drita of Kosovo in the play-off round, with a spot in the group phase up for grabs. Drita lost 3-6 on aggregate in the Europe League qualifiers against Romanian side FCSB.
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Editor: Michael Cole, Elisabeth Siivelt, Kristjan Kallaste
