Omonia grab last-gasp winner as Celta's winless run continues in Europa League

Both teams struggled for fluency in a scrappy first half in Cyprus, with Ewandro’s 25-yard effort that had Ionut Radu scrambling back across goal to concede a corner the only real flash of excitement.

On the back of that chance, the hosts sporadically threatened a breakthrough before half-time from long range, as Jean-Kevin Duverne burst in from the right flank and tested Radu from the edge of his box on 31 minutes. 

Their Galician visitors carried much less threat in attack, as two close-range efforts on target were easily dealt with by home keeper Fabiano before the break.

Claudio Giraldez’s charges looked every inch a team lacking confidence, with their attacking problems laid bare here against an Omonia side which had conceded two or more goals in five of their last six Europa League main draw home games.

The restart failed to trigger a reaction from Celta, and Omonia lacked the cutting edge to find a way behind an organised away backline as the forward momentum dropped at both ends of the GSP Stadium.

Celta thought they'd found a breakthrough on 70 minutes when Pablo Duran turned home from close range after some sloppy Omonia defending, but his strike was ruled out due to an offside against Williot Swedberg in the build-up.

In the closing stages, Hugo Gonzalez scuffed a late chance straight at Fabiano before the Omonia stopper made a fantastic stop to keep out Miguel Roman.

However, the script was torn up on 88 minutes just as the game looked to be drifting to a goalless draw.

Balkovec spotted a gap in the Celta rearguard as he sauntered forward from left-back, and the Slovenian unleashed a rocket past Radu to spectacularly open his account for Omonia and secure victory.

Celta subsequently lose on matchday one for a second successive season, while this marks the first time in five Europa League games against Spanish opponents that Omonia have avoided defeat and marks their first win in the main draw of this competition since 2020.

Flashscore Man of the Match: Jure Balkovec (Omonia)

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