Belarussian spirit too strong for Turkey

Belarus overturned a slender first-leg deficit to beat Turkey and qualify for the UEFA European Under-21 Championship.

Comeback win
Trailing to Sercan Yildrim's goal in Antalya last Friday, Yuri Kurnenin's team fought back to win the tie courtesy of strikes either side of half-time from Mikhail Sivakov and Igor Shitov. The 2-0 second-leg victory in Borisov sent the hosts to the final tournament in Sweden next June.

Deadlock broken
As well as being a goal in arrears, Belarus also had to deal with the absences of first-leg starters Anton Putilo – called up to the senior team – and the suspended Sergei Kislyak. Yet, after a quiet start to the game, they managed to find the breakthrough six minutes before the interval when Sivakov headed in Sergei Gigevich's corner from close range. Turkey were boosted by the inclusion of Serdar Kurtuluş, Ceyhun Gülselam, Caner Erkin and Aydın Yılmaz from the full national squad, but by the beginning of the second half they were struggling to stay in the match.

Crucial strike
When Andrei Chukhlei was denied in a one-on-one with visiting keeper Onur Recep Kivrak, Belarus right-back Shitov was first to the rebound to fire the ball just under the crossbar and in. The second home score turned the tide in the game, as Hami Mandıralı's men went in search of an away goal. However, they found an immovable object in Belarus keeper Pavel Chesnovski. He made a number of fine saves, before Turkish frustration was capped by Eren Güngör's 85th-minute dismissal for a professional foul on substitute Vladimir Yurchenko. Aleksandr Volodko might even have salted the wound with a late goal but for the excellence of custodian Recep Kivrak.