Nicosia, CYPRUS, July 25 (uefa.com) - FC Red Star survived a stirring second-half fightback from Omonia FC to head back to Belgrade for the second leg of their UEFA Champions League second qualifying round tie with the scores level at 1-1.
After a cautious opening, it was the
visitors who took the lead, Mihajlo
Pjanovic adding to his burgeoning
reputation as he finished off Milenko
Acimovic's fine cross on 26 minutes.
Red Star continued to have the
upper hand until half-time, but much
of their superiority was restricted to midfield, and they
perhaps did not create the chances their dominance of
possession deserved.
It was a different story in the second half, as Omonia came
out with the bit between their teeth. They had already
wasted a couple of decent opportunities when, on 71
minutes, Gunter Thiebaut stole in front of Marjan Markovic
to stab the ball home after it had eluded the leap of Ivan
Vukomanovic.
Thiebaut could even have given the home side the victory,
but he fired over from a glorious chance with 12 minutes
remaining.
For their part, Red Star were restricted to the odd
break in the second half, with debutant Darko Spalevic
doing enough to suggest that he could prove a useful
acquisition. German side Bayer 04 Leverkusen await the
winners.
