Botev Plovdiv suffered their first loss of the season in the league. The “Canaries” were defeated 0:1 at home by Spartak Varna. The match from the 6th round was played at the “Nikola Shterev – Starika” football complex due to ongoing renovation work at the “Hristo Botev” stadium.
The match began with a minute of silence in memory of the suddenly deceased former Botev captain Georgi Avramov. In the 18th minute, the game was symbolically stopped again for applause in memory of the “yellow-black” youth player.
On the field, Botev controlled most of the first half but failed to score. Aleksa Marash and Christian Nuachukwu came close several times, but their shots went wide of the visitors’ goal from Varna.
In added time of the first half, the Montenegrin eventually managed to score. However, Marash’s goal was disallowed after VAR determined that a Botev player was offside during the build-up to the goal.
Another negative moment in the first 45 minutes was Samuel Akere’s injury. The winger suffered a shoulder injury and had to be substituted.
In the second half, Dushan Kerkez’s boys continued their attempts to breach Spartak’s goal. The closest chance came from Siriki Diabate, but his header hit the crossbar.
Eventually, the “Falcons” seized their moment in the middle of the second half. A cross from the left found Ahmed Ahmedov, who had freed himself well in the penalty area, leaving Hans Christian Bernat with no chance as he scored to make it 1:0 for Spartak.
At the very end of the match, Botev was reduced to 10 men. Nikola Iliev received a second yellow card after losing his temper and pushing a visiting player.
This defeat is Botev’s first in the championship. After 5 matches played, the “yellow-blacks” are still near the top of the table, with 3 wins, 1 draw, and 1 loss. Botev’s next match is on Friday, August 30, in Sofia against CSKA.
STARTING LINEUP: 1. Hans Christian Bernat; 17. Nikolay Minkov (75‘ – 4. Ehije Ukaki), 5. Joonas Tamm, 27. Siriky Diabate, 38. Konstantinos Balogiannis; 28. Yanis Karabelyov (46‘ – 15. James Eto’o), 20. Antonio Perera (75‘ – 88. Alen Korosec); 7. Samuel Akere (22‘ – 21. Nikola Iliev), 10. Ivelin Popov (C), 40. Christian Nwachukwu; 99. Aleksa Maras (66‘ – 91. Vinni Triboulet)
