One blow: Beitar Jerusalem won 0:1 in Larnaca

After its fans were attacked in Cyprus, Beitar Jerusalem took to the pitch this evening (Thursday) at the AEK Arena for its first match of the season in European competition, and defeated AEK Larnaca 0:1 in the second qualifying round of the Conference League. The yellow-and-blacks bring a very good result to the return leg in Romania (Ilie Oană Stadium in the city of Ploiești) next week, and can be especially satisfied with keeping a clean sheet in the absence of the injured Luka Gadrani and with their control of the field starting from the 30th minute.

The opening belonged to the Cypriots, coached by the legendary Mauro Camoranesi. Gus Ledes created danger from set pieces, and in the 23rd minute Beitar had a lot of luck, with two posts in one move. After that, Daniel Worcu and Noam Muche began to take control of things and were also active in the attack. Beitar initiated more and looked good even after Yarden Shua, Omer Atzili, and Eugene Ansah left together in the 57th minute, and substitute Timo Muzie knew how to draw a red card from Mike van der Hoorn in the decisive move. It was Brian Caraballo who took the free kick after the dismissal, and was helped by a not-so-successful reaction from the goalkeeper to give Beitar an away win in the 77th minute.

The substitutions worked for Almog Cohen and he has his first win as head coach. Yahav Gurfinkel participated as a substitute for the hosts and will try to do more with his teammates in the return leg.

Lineups

AEK Larnaca: Andreas Paraskevas, Jorge Miramón (Godswill Ekpolo, 62), Hrvoje Miličević, Mike van der Hoorn, Kostas Pileas (Yahav Gurfinkel, 62), Ivano Pandur (Charalampos Kyriakou, 69), Gus Ledes, Ian Rapas, Amor Layouni, Đorđe Ivanović (Yousef Amine, 62), Riad Bajić.

Beitar Jerusalem: Miguel Silva, Nana Antwi, Brian Caraballo, Gil Cohen, Yarden Cohen, Boris Enow, Noam Muche (Ziv Ben Shimol, 82), Daniel Worcu, Omer Atzili (Jonbosco Kalu, 57), Yarden Shua (Timo Muzie, 57), Eugene Ansah (Shon Weissman, 57).

Match flow

5th minute: A corner by the Portuguese Ledes almost turned into an own goal. To Beitar's luck, the ball passed by the post and went out for another corner.

7th minute: Ansah received the first yellow card of the match.

10th minute: A shot by Rapas was deflected and went out for a corner. Ledes again lifted a dangerous ball, this time from the left, and a header across the goal narrowly missed the head of Layouni, who was waiting free near the far post.

14th minute: Shua was caught entering the box from the left and then threw himself down. The referee did not call for a penalty, despite the claims of the Beitar players. Let us recall that there is no VAR at this stage.

19th minute: First shot on target, when Bajić overcame the defenders and headed straight into the hands of Silva.

23rd minute: Beitar was saved twice by a miracle. First, Layouni's ball hit Yarden Cohen and bounced to the post, Layouni headed the rebound across the goal and found Bajić, who somehow headed from a meter and a half into the post and out.

31st minute: Silva sent a long ball towards Ansah, who dribbled against two players and set up Atzili, who shot wide under pressure.

32nd minute: This time Ansah tried himself from 16 meters, the ball hit a defender's leg and was deflected for a corner by Paraskevas.

36th minute: Antwi almost surprised with a shot from outside the box, his ball slipped over the crossbar.

39th minute: Another opportunity for Beitar, this time with Shua who curled wide from 14 meters on the left.

48th minute: Worcu led a Jerusalem counterattack, but his shot from outside the box was very far from the target.

57th minute: Three minutes after receiving a yellow card, Atzili left together with Shua and Ansah. Almog Cohen brought in a new attacking trio: Kalu, Weissman, and Muzie.

58th minute: How close for Beitar. The active Worcu advanced and then curled from 18 meters, but his ball whistled past the post.

60th minute: Another good attack by Beitar, this time Kalu passed between three players and shot flat wide from outside the box.

66th minute: Muche received a yellow card and set up a dangerous free kick for the hosts. Miličević curled into the hands of Silva.

75th minute: Red card! Van der Hoorn prevented a certain scoring opportunity when he stopped Muzie with a foul on the edge of the box. AEK Larnaca with 10 players, will Beitar know how to take advantage of this?

77th minute: Goal! And indeed, the opportunity was used immediately. It was the defender Caraballo who took the free kick and curled with his right into the corner of the goalkeeper, who reacted late and surrendered. 0:1 for Beitar Jerusalem.

90+1 minute: Beitar could have achieved a significant lead, but Kalu chose to shoot instead of passing and sent the ball wide.

90+2 minute: Ben Shimol broke free in the box and shot flat, the goalkeeper caught it.