Botev (Plovdiv) finished the regular part of the championship with a crushing 4:0 victory over Lokomotiv (Sofia). The match was played at the Lokomotiv stadium in the capital’s Nadezhda district. With the success, the “canaries” also guaranteed themselves the 7th position in the division of the championship and will fight for a playoff for Europe.
Under the pouring rain in the capital, Dusan Kerkez’s boys started the match strongly. Up until the 10th minuteMohamed Brahimi tried his luck twice, but failed to score.
In 16th minute, Jonas Tam also had a good chance after a corner kick and a header. And his attempt, however, did not find the goal of Lokomotiv (Sofia).
However, just minutes later, Botev’s pressure paid off. Umeh Emmanuel took advantage of a perfect pass by Kostas Balogiannis in the penalty area and made it 1:0 in the 19′.
By the break, the “yellow and black” managed to double their lead, as Ume again found himself in the arms of his teammates. An unsuccessful static situation for Lokomotiv ended with a stolen ball in the center and a counterattack for Botev. After a perfectly timed pass from James Eto’o, Umeх Emmanuel found himself alone against the home goalkeeper and coolly scored to make it 2-0.
For the Nigerian, it was the 3rd goal in the last 2 matches, after he scored the victory over CSKA in the first semi-final between the two teams for the Bulgarian Cup. Since the start of the season, Ume already has 6 goals in the championship and a total of 8 in the season.
And although Botev’s winger did not complete his hat-trick in the second half, it was Dylan Mertens who got the spotlight after the break.
In the 65′, Martin Sekulic, who appeared from the bench, showed individual class, overcame an opponent and combined with Brahimi, who elegantly placed the ball in the path of Mertens. From the edge of the penalty area, the midfielder made no mistake and scored for 3:0.
Literally only 2′ later, Mertens was accurate again. A dizzying shot from him ended up in the goal for 4:0, which turned out to be the final result of the match. The Dutchman’s good form has also been reinforced, with him now having 3 goals in his last 3 games.
Thus, Botev is undefeated in 6 consecutive matches from all tournaments, and in this period he has not even conceded a goal. The Canaries are 7th in the standings with 44 points from 30 games. Until the end of the season, Botev will be in the same group with CSKA 1948, Arda and Slavia and will try to maintain its position, which gives the right to participate in the play-off for Europe.
STARTING SQUAD Hidayet Hankic – 17. Nikolay Minkov, 5. Jonas Tamm, 19. Antoine Conte, 38. Konstantinos Balogiannis (75′ – 18. Dimitar Papazov) – 15. James Eto’o, 6. Dylan Mertens (81′ – 28. Yannis Karabelov), 20. Antonio Perera (46′ – 30. Lachezar Baltanov) – 7. Mohamed Brahimi, 31. Umeх Emmanuel (75′ – 40. Christian Nвachukwu), 16. Samuel Akere (63′ – 9. Martin Sekulic)
RESERVES: 32. Matvey Igonen, 4. Ehije Ukaki, 42. Ivaylo Videv, 14. Faustas Steponavičius