Debrecen squeeze past Kalmar

Ten-man Debreceni VSC survived a spirited comeback from Kalmar FF to book a third qualifying round meeting with FC Levadia Tallinn after an away-goals success.

Elm double
The Swedish champions, beaten 2-0 in the first leg, fell further adrift to Jozsef Varga's 13th-minute strike but hauled themselves level on aggregate with Rasmus Elm scoring in either half and Daniel Mendes also on target before the break. Péter Maté was dismissed for a second booking in the dying stages but the Hungarian titleholders clung on.

Varga opener
An away goal was always going to be a priceless commodity for Andras Herczeg's charges and when Varga burst through the centre of the home defence and slid his finish under Petter Wastå the tie appeared over. But the response from the hosts was admirable. Mendes's header was saved by Vukašin Poleksić and Elm's deflected free-kick clipped the bar, yet they still levelled within six minutes of trailing when Elm's cross found the far corner after his brother David had failed to make contact with an attempted header.

Sending off
Mendes then added another, sweeping in after Daniel Sobralense had pulled back a low cross from the byline on 32 minutes. Debrecen regrouped, though, and were more resilient thereafter. Gergely Rudolf nearly put the tie to bed after 69 minutes but only hit the side-netting having rounded Wastå, and within three minutes it was 3-3 on aggregate when Rasmus Elm scored from the penalty spot after Maté, later sent off, conceded a spot-kick.