Cléo completes the job for Partizan

Brazilian striker Cléo scored on the stroke of half-time to give FK Partizan victory against FC Pyunik and rubber-stamp a 4-1 aggregate triumph over the Armenian titleholders.

The Serbian champions had laid the platform for a third qualifying round contest against HJK Helsinki with a 3-1 win in Belgrade last week. Cléo completed the scoring in that opening instalment and banished any lingering doubts of the overall outcome with a well-taken finish four minutes into first-half added time in Yerevan.

Nemanja Tomić had got the ball rolling in the first leg and it was he who was first to go close in the return, Artur Lesko coming to Pyunik's rescue after just three minutes. Pyunik had chances of their own to inject a glimmer of life back into the tie, however, Marcos Pizzelli spurning the most presentable when failing to finish from inside the penalty area after 18 minutes.

Cléo was far more clinical when he collected Radosav Petrović's precise pass and fired past Lesko via the crossbar. The hosts again went close to registering seven minutes after the interval, but Gevorg Ghazaryan was denied by Partizan defender Ivan Stevanović. Cléo nearly added his third of the tie late on but Partizan's work was already done.