Levadia lose out to Debrecen
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
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Debreceni VSC 1-0 FC Levadia Tallinn (agg: 2-0)
History repeated itself for the Hungarian and Estonian champions as Adamo Coulibaly's strike gave the hosts another narrow victory.
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It was a case of recent history repeating itself for Debreceni VSC and FC Levadia Tallinn as the Hungarian champions earned their second 1-0 victory of the tie thanks to Adamo Coulibaly's 70th-minute winner.
History-makers
Leandro struck the only goal in Tallinn a week ago but this time it was Frenchman Coulibaly who provided the decisive moment to send Debrecen into the UEFA Champions League play-off round – the furthest they have travelled in five attempts in Europe's élite club competition. The visitors' frustrations were compounded when Deniss Malov was dismissed with ten minutes remaining.
Poleksić save
The Estonian titleholders had come close to levelling the tie on aggregate in the first half at the Oláh Gábor utcai Stadium when DVSC goalkeeper Vukašin Poleksić produced an exceptional save to deny Vitali Gussev. Gergely Rudolf responded for the hosts but missed the target by a matter of centimetres a few minutes later.Andras Herczeg's outfit confirmed their progress as 2-0 aggregate winners with 20 minutes to play when Péter Szakály swung in a perfect cross from the left and Coulibaly finished with aplomb from ten metres. Malov was then sent off to seal a miserable night for Igor Prins's charges, though they at least have the consolation of a berth in the UEFA Europa League play-off round.