European Night at the City Stadium: Draw Against Levski in Front of a Record Crowd
Our red and blues returned to the European stage, with the first leg of the UEFA Champions League qualifying tie against Levski Sofia ending in a 1–1 draw.
In front of packed stands at the City Stadium in Banja Luka, we took the lead through Luka Juričić, who was composed from the penalty spot in the 9th minute.
The visitors, however, managed to equalize in the second half, with Armstrong Oko-Flex finding the back of the net in the 55th minute.
“We played a very good first half in which we looked dangerous. We had two more chances to score, but we failed to take them. In the second half, Levski imposed pressure from the very start, and we knew that would happen. We tried to avoid that scenario. During those ten or so minutes, we failed to take control of the ball and conceded a goal. After that, the match went in a different direction. The opponent gained more possession, while we looked to threaten on the counterattack. We will analyze the match, and the recipe for victory in Sofia is the performance from the first half,” said our head coach Vinko Marinović after the match.
The Borac camp remains full of optimism after the first leg, with the players sending a clear message that they are going to Sofia in search of victory.
“We played against a team that was very well prepared tactically. We also had our own tactics and our own objectives. In the first half, we played very well and maturely. However, in the second half, we unconsciously dropped back and conceded that one goal. We did not create too many goalscoring situations, just like in the first half. Everything will be decided in Sofia. We have an active result, we believe in ourselves, and we believe we can progress to the next round,” said Luka Juričić.
Another page of our club’s European history was written at the City Stadium, as the clash between Borac and Levski was watched by a record crowd of 10,102 spectators.
