Tallinna FC Flora beat rivals Levadia to Estonian premier league title

Meistriliiiga side Tallinna FC Flora won its 16th league title on Saturday after beating Pärnu Vaprus 3:0 away on the last day of the season.
Flora beat out arch-rivals FCI Levadia, who drew 2:2 with Harju JK Laagri.
At the other end of the 10-team table, Tallinna Kalev have been relegated to the second-tier Esiliiga, but the ninth-place finisher — who will face Esiliiga runners-up Viimsi in promotion-relegation play-offs — was still to be decided.
Former national team captain Konstantin Vassiljev won the league in his debut season as Flora's manager; the 41-year-old had won the league four times as a player with the same side, as well as three times with Levadia.
Heading into the final weekend of the season — due to climate considerations the regular season runs March to November — Flora were top of the table with 79 points, but defending champions Levadia were only one point behind. This meant Levadia needed an away win against Laagri, and also needed Flora to lose or draw to Vaprus. In the event neither of these outcomes materialized.
Flora had beaten the Pärnu side in 16 of their preceding 19 meetings, but it was Vaprus who pulled off a 1:0 upset away win over Flora earlier in the season.
Levadia on the other hand had won all three meetings with Laagri this season, not letting a single goal in, with a combined score of 9:0. "We have to focus on doing our job — getting three points — and then wait for the result in Pärnu. I trust Pärnu's professionalism. And I still believe we'll be champions," Levadia manager Curro Torres said pre-match.
Both title contenders took an early lead in their matches, as midfielder Mihkel Ainsalu put Levadia ahead at Laagri in the 10th minute, while striker Sergei Zenjov did the same for Flora in Pärnu two minutes later.
Flora doubled their lead in the 27th minute. Flora midfielder Markus Poom's pass deflected off Pärnu defender Siim Aer to the goal line; while defender Joonas Sild cleared the ball, the linesman — positioned perfectly in relation to the goal line — judged that the ball had gone over the line. Camera angles prevented VAR from overruling that decision, so the goal stood.
In the second half, VAR made another pivotal decision, this time against Flora: Striker Rauno Alliku collected the ball up and slid into the net virtually on the goal line after a poor touch by Sild, but after video review, referee Kristo Külljastinen instead booked Alliku, awarding the hosts a penalty, which Pärnu's Kristjan Kriis duly converted shortly before the hour mark.
However Flora settled the title race definitively with a goal from midfielder Nikita Mihhailov in the 76th minute. Levadia failed to find a winning goal in Laagri; in fact things went the other way, as in the first minute of time added on, Kriis finished a quick break to put the home team ahead 2:1, seemingly putting things past Levadia's grasp. A full six minutes into stoppage time, Levadia equalized, though this was thanks to an own goal by the hosts, and the clock ran out before anything else happened.
Pärnu ended their season mid-table in 6th place, one spot above Harju Laagri.
The battle for the second-to-last place, which leads to a place in the relegation play-offs, also turned out to be thrilling. Tartu Tammeka beat Narva Trans 2:0 at home, and since FC Kuressaare suffered a 2:1 home defeat against the relegated Tallinna Kalev, Tammeka climbed to eighth, meaning Kuressaare will face Esiliiga runners-up Viimsi in the play-offs. The outcome of that would either be Kuressaare and Viimsi swapping places, or things staying as they are. FC Nõmme United won the Esiliiga and will be playing in the Meistriliiga next season.
The final Meistriliiga standings were:
- Flora 82 points,
- Levadia 79 points,
- Nõmme Kalju 74 points,
- Paide Linnameeskond 70 points,
- Narva Trans 51 points,
- Pärnu Vaprus 49 points,
- Harju Laagri 36 points,
- Tartu Tammeka 30 points,
- FC Kuressaare 28 points,
- Tallinna Kalev 17 points.
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Editor: Andrew Whyte


































































