Hristov double downs nine-man Sant Julià

Bulgarian champions PFC Levski Sofia took a major step towards the next round after a comfortable victory against nine-man UE Sant Julià of Andorra.

Half-time switch
Levski entered the game on a run of 13 matches without a win in Europe dating back to August 2006 and it seemed that run was about to continue after a fruitless first half in which the visitors defended well and managed to keep Levski at bay. After the break, coach Emil Velev made one change and replaced the ineffective Nikolay Dimitrov with Zé Soares and the home side never looked back, with goals from Darko Tasevski, two from Georgi Hristov and another from Vladimir Gadjev.

Hristov strikes
Velev's men took the lead in the 50th minute when left-back Veselin Minev crossed a perfect ball for Macedonian international Tasevski to head in powerfully from close range. Sant Julià's hopes diminished when they were reduced to ten men on 54 minutes, Diego Abdian receiving a second yellow card. Striker Hristov made them pay with cool finishes on 64 and 72 minutes before the visitors saw another player, Alejandro Romero, dismissed following two bookings. Impressive midfielder Gadjev then made it 4-0 with a well-taken free-kick in the 82nd minute.