Hajduk Split advances to the second stage of Europa League qualifications

Hajduk Split lost to Žilina 2:1 in the second leg of their first round Europa League qualifier in Slovakia last night. In spite of the loss, Hajduk will advance to the second round of qualifiers on a 3:2 aggregate score, having won the opener in Split last Thursday, 2:0.

Scoring the key goal for Hajduk last night was left-back Alec van Hoorenbeeck, who gave his team the lead in the second minute of injury time before the half. Žilina would equalize shortly after the break, with Croatian international Marko Roginić scoring in the 52nd minute of play. Things would get even more precarious in extra time, when Hajduk defender Dario Melnjak scored an own goal in the first minute of injury time. However, coach Gonzalo Garcia's managed to hang on to the final whistle and advance to the second round.

Here's what van Hoorenbeeck had to say after the game: “Yeah, I'm very happy actually that I scored. The most important thing is that we're through. But, yeah, our second half was not good enough I think. They had a lot of chances, we couldn't pressure the ball anymore, and then you know, the five last minutes was just surviving, and we did it so, at the end we need to be happy because we go through to the next round and that's the most important thing.”

Hajduk will face Cypriot side Paphos in the next qualifying round, and van Hoorenbeeck believes that Hajduk's chances or good if they play like they did in the first leg against Žilina.

“I don't know the way they play, I don't know yet, but I know, of course, that they played the Champs League last year and they got some good results over there, so it's going to be a tough opponent, but we're going to analyze it and we're going to prepared for next week, and if we play like the first game, then I think we have a good chance to go through against Paphos also,” van Hoorenbeeck said.

The first leg against Paphos is scheduled to be played at Poljud Stadium on July 23rd, while the return leg will be played in Cyprus on July 30th.

Van Hoorenbeeck also commented on Hajduk's fans that made the trip to Slovakia to cheer on their team: “Yeah, it's very nice. You only heard our fans! That's top! That's really great! And I'm happy that we can go through to the next round for them, and next week we go again in Poljud, hopefully to a full stadium!”

Source: HRT