Botev (Plovdiv) lost to Slavia in the 34th round of the championship 1:3. The only goal for the “canaries” was scored by Martin Sekulic, for whom it was the second game in a row with a goal. Botev played the entire second half with a man more after Georgi Tartov from Slavia was sent off at the end of the first 45′, but they were unable to catch up.
Just 5 days after the triumph for the Bulgarian Cup, Botev came to the Alexander Shalamanov stadium with a lot of changes in the starting line-up. Head coach Dusan Kerkez was also absent from the touchline, he was punished and missed the match, and instead the team was led by Rafael Ferreira. Among the absent players were Dylan Mertens, Antoine Conte, James Eto’o, Mohamed Brahimi and the severly injured Georgi Nikolov.
Just two minutes later, Daniel Kaiser, who was given a chance under the crossbar in this match, had to intervene several times to prevent another goal for Slavia.
However, the home team’s pressure produced a result again in the 22nd minute. A short corner found Ivan Minchev, who put the ball on the head of Ventsislav Kerchev, and the defender made no mistake and scored for 2:0.
A reaction followed from Botev. The “Canaries” woke up in the capital and in 28′ Christian Nwachukwu won a penalty for Plovdiv. Martin Sekulic stood behind the white dot. His shot hit the side post, but with a bit of luck and after ricocheting off a Slavia player, the ball hit the striker again, who made no mistake and scored for 1:2.
5′ before the end of the first half, Slavia was down a man. A bad split by the penalty taker Georgi Tartov against Nwachukwu gave the referee grounds to show him a straight red card after consultation on the pitch with VAR.
Left with one more player, the players of Botev tried to increase the pressure at the start of the second half. Slavia, on the other hand, relied on counterattacks and waited for their chances. In 57′, the “Whites” scored another goal, this time through Victor Genev, but the goal was canceled due to an ambush.
Slavia responded with a direct free kick from the substitute Galin Ivanov, who in the last match between the two teams brought victory to the “Whites” in Plovdiv. This time, however, his shot was parried by Kaiser.
Luck turned out to be on the home team’s side in 76′. A powerful long-range strike from Konstantinos Balogiannis rattled the side post of the goal saved by Svetoslav Vutsov and Slavia’s lead remained intact.
In 78′ the dispute in the Ovcha Kupel district of the capital was largely over. Vladimir Nikolov checked Botev’s defense and after a good individual raid managed to score 3:1 in favor of Slavia.
In the final minutes, the bar once again deprived the Bulgarian Cup winners of a goal.
In the ranking, Botev occupies the 9th position with 45 points from 34 games. In the next round, the Canaries visit CSKA 1948 on Thursday (May 23) at 17:45. In the last round of the season, Botev hosts Arda on May 27 at the Hristo Botev Stadium.
BOTEV’S STARTING LINE-UP: 22. Daniel Kaiser – 4. Ehije Ukaki, 42. Ivaylo Videv, 79. Atanas Chernev (82′ – 29. Ilanda Kintuntu), 18. Dimitar Papazov – 28. Yanis Karabelyov (82′ – 3. John Emmanuel), 20. Antonio Perera, 30. Lachezar Baltanov (55′ – 38. Konstantinos Baloyianis) – 14. Faustas Steponavičius (55′ – 31. Umeh Emmanuel), 40. Christian Nwachukwu, 9. Martin Sekulic;
RESERVES: 32. Matvey Igonen, 10. Ivelin Popov, 17. Nikolay Minkov, 43. Miroslav Georgiev, 46. Emil Naydenov
