Celje and Ljubljana clubs bounce back in UEFA Conference League
Celje/Ljubljana, 25 October - After suffering defeats in their UEFA Conference League openers at the start of the month, national football champions Celje as well as Olimpija Ljubljana both won their second group games at home on Thursday. Celje beat Istanbul Basaksehir 5:1 (3:0) and Olimpija Lask from Austria's Linz 2:0 (1:0).
Ljubljana
The Slovenian football team Union Olimpija celebrating a win.
Photo: Boštjan Podlogar/STA
File photo
Celje came out strong last night against the Turkish side, going up in the fifth minute through Tamar Svetlin. Ivan Brnić made it 2:0 in the 30th, Svit Sešlar 3:0 in the 34th, while two more came in the 51st and 77th from Armandas Kučys. Basaksehir's sole goal was contributed by Dimitrios Pelkas in the 75th.
After their historic first win in a non-qualifier European club competition game, Celje will face Real Betis on 7 November in Spain.
Meanwhile, Ljubljana's Olimpija, who are playing in the league stage of Europe's third-tier club competition for the second time in a row, secured their win by leaving the initiative to Linz and relying on counterattacks.
They went up via one of these attacks in the 14th minute through Alejandro Blanco, while the second goal came from a set piece in the 81st, the scorer being Pedro Lucas.
Olimpija will next play an away game in Helsinki on 7 November.