Omonoia advanced to the Champions League Play-off after beating Crvena zvezda on penalties following a 1-1 draw in Nicosia. A bad defeat for the red and whites means we will continue European competition in the Europa League Play-off.
Ground: GSP Stadium
Referee: Chris Kavanagh
Goalscorers: Lüftner 31' - Ivanić 45'
Omonoia: Fabiano, Lang, Hubočan, Lüftner, Lecjaks, Papoulis, Jordi Gómez,Vítor Gomes, Thiago, Bautheac, Kakouli.
Substitutes: Kyriakidis, Sene, Ďuriš, Kousaoulos, Mavrias, Loizou, Asante.
Crvena zvezda: Borjan, Gobeljić, Milunović, Degenek, Rodić, Kanga, Sanogo, Ivanić, Ben, Katai, Vukanović.
Substitutes: Popović, Gajić, Pankov, Falcinelli, Nikolić, Gavrić, Jovančić.
Aleksa Vukanović led Zvezda's attack in this big match after Tomane's transfer out to Turkey and the injury sustained by Boakye in our Friday's win at Čukarički. Vukanović has a record of scoring some important goals and he looked lively in Nicosia.
Mirko Ivanić cut in from the left flank and tired to curl one in the far corner on 17 minutes, but Brazilian goalkeeper Fabiano managed to beat it away as Zvezda looked to seize control of the match.
The hosts took the lead against the run of play on 31 minutes when Lüftner bundled in from just a fer centimeters out following an inswinging corner that our defence couldn't deal with.
Guelor Kanga came ever so close to leveling just a few minutes later, but he was unlucky to see his shot whistle just past the post.
Zvezda continued to push forward and the pressure paid off just before the break as Ben delivered a fine cross from the fight hand side that was expertly headed into the net by Mirko Ivanić. It was 1-1.
Katai and Kanga had chances from free kicks in the second half, but they didn't trouble Omonoia's goalkeeper despite getting their shots on target.
Ben blasted over the bar from around the centre of the area when Rodić sent a great low cross for the Comorian.
On the other end, Milan Borjan pulled off a fantastic save to deny Éric Bauthéac's well-taken volley with around 20 minutes left.
And Ben was kicking himself as he hit a defender when presented with space and time to shoot following another useful ball from Milan Rodić.
All the misses will give our players sleepless nights after penalty shoot-out resulted in defeat. Falcinelli and Degenek missed from the spot as the hosts made no mistakes.