Ludogorets and Beroe achieved an even 1:1 score after a spectacular game in Stara Zagora. Both teams had a few good goal situations, but the champions will definitely regret missing them more. Anton Nedyalkov made his official debut in First league as a Ludogorets player. He replaced Natanael after the half time.
The champions’ head manager Paulo Autuori decided to change five of the players in the team composition which he used in the game against MOL Vidi. He did in because he wanted to preserve his main players for the upcoming Champions League game. Terziev, Goralski, Campanharo, Paulo and Swierczok took the places of Moti, Dyakov, Sasha, Keseru and Wanderson.
Beroe demonstrated a fast pace and Tsonev hit the woodwork as early as the second minute after kicking the ball with his left foot. Ludogorets responded with a quick attack. Misidjan entered the penalty zone, but was unable to attempt a goal. Tsonev had another chance to score in the 10th minute, but the ball went far away from the target. From that point on there were a number of goal situations in front of both gates. Cicinho had a great opportunity in the 30th minute, but he chose to continue playing instead of attempting a shot and wasted the situation. The home team caused a commotion in front of Renan’s gate seven minutes later. Minchev performed a direct free and Renan did not intervene in the best possible way. The ball made a ricochet in Raynov’s body and went out. Forster tried to return the ball to Renan in the 40th minute, but Meska caught it. Fortunately Renan was able to save. After that Ludogorets applied some pressure on their opponent which resulted in two goal situations. Swierczok passed to Paulo, but Pernis was able to react instantly and saved. The ball went into the corner. Marcelinho was the quickest after that but he was also not able to score despite the close distance of three or four meters. The reason was the keeper’s reflexes again.
The champions took the lead in the 57th minute with a beautiful goal. Misidjan received a long pass, after which he passed to Cicinho. The wing back returned to Marcelinho who kicked the ball low and scored. Five minutes later Beroe made the score even. Raynov sent a powerful shot with his left foot for 1:1. Swierczok was really close to adding a second goal for Ludogorets in the 75th minutes, but he still failed to do so. The champions kept applying pressure, but they were able to attempt a goal only a few times and all of them did not result in a score change.
BEROE - LUDOGORETS 1:1
0:1 Marcelinho (57')
1:1 Raynov (61')
BEROE: Pernis, Alcan, Hadzhiev, Bandalovski, Tsonev, Tsvetkov, Raynov, Vasilev, Meska (65 – Costa), Kamburov (83 – Angelov), Minchev (75 – Brigido)
LUDOGORETS: Renan, Forster, Terziev, Campanharo, Goralski, Misidjan, Cicinho, Natanael (68 – Nedyalkov), Marcelinho (59 – Dyakov), Swierczok (76 – Keseru), Paulo
Yellow cards: Tsvetkov, Meska (Beroe); Natanael, Marcelinho, Swierczok (Ludogorets).