Crvena Zvezda scored twice in the final ten minutes, the winner deep in stoppage time, to beat Inter Club d'Escaldes 2-1 at the Rajko Mitic Stadium and claim their first Conference League win of the season — after playing much of a chaotic night with ten men and trailing the Andorran minnows with 28 minutes to play.
This was supposed to be the gentle night in Crvena Zvezda's league phase. Inter Club d'Escaldes arrived in Belgrade without a point, beaten by Mjallby and Universitatea Craiova in their first two matches, and the hosts had won three straight domestic games since drawing with Copenhagen. Instead, Albert Riera's side produced a performance that swung between wasteful, reckless and, at the very last, utterly ruthless.
Two red cards and a disallowed goal in a wild first hour
The tone was set in a frantic five minutes before half-time. Aleksandar Katai thought he had opened the scoring on 32 minutes, only for VAR to rule the goal out for a foul in the build-up — and on 35 minutes the veteran forward was shown a straight red card for violent conduct, a moment of madness that Sky Sports' live commentary recorded as the turning point of the half. Zvezda still dominated the ball, but the Marakana crowd was restless and the visitors were growing in belief.
Six minutes after the restart the numbers were level again. Domingo Berlanga, already booked in the first half, collected a second yellow card and Inter were down to ten themselves. Yet it was the Andorrans who struck. Felip Ortiz sent on Borja Arellano on 58 minutes, and four minutes later the substitute was at the far post to turn in Maurizio Pochettino's cross from close range — a goal that silenced one of Europe's loudest stadiums and gave Inter a lead they had scarcely dared to imagine.
What followed was a siege. Inter goalkeeper Javi Diaz made nine saves across the night as Zvezda piled up 24 shots, 11 of them on target, according to the Sportradar match data. Osman Bukari hit one post, Matej Gashtarov another, and Diaz denied Rade Krunic and Vladimir Lucic as the clock ran down on what would have been one of the great Conference League upsets.
Lucic and Nakayama break Andorran hearts
Riera's last throw of the dice proved inspired. Bamba Dieng, himself a half-time substitute, limped off injured on 79 minutes and Lucic jogged on in his place. Within a minute the winger was celebrating, drilling Krunic's pass into the top right corner from the centre of the box to level the scores and send the home crowd into a frenzy.
Zvezda threw everything forward, and in the second minute of stoppage time the winner finally came in the scruffiest fashion imaginable. Yuta Nakayama's left-footed shot from outside the box crashed against the left post and went in off the unfortunate Diaz — a goal the official data feeds could not even agree on, with some crediting Nakayama and others recording it as a Diaz own goal. Nobody in red and white cared. The comeback was complete, and Inter's players sank to the turf.
So what does it mean?
Crvena Zvezda move on to four points from three matches, having lost at Lugano and drawn with Copenhagen, and a first win keeps them firmly in the hunt for the knockout play-off places. On a night when Trabzonspor's star-studded side showed how quickly this competition can humble favourites, Riera will know his own team escaped a far deeper embarrassment by the width of a post and a goalkeeper's back.
For Inter Club d'Escaldes, the wait for a first league-phase point goes on, but this was no disgrace. A team from a country of fewer than 80,000 people led in Belgrade for 18 minutes, matched Zvezda for an hour and were beaten only by a deflected stoppage-time freak goal. Their campaign is becoming the story of the league phase, even in defeat.
Beyond the Final Whistle: This is the Conference League at its glorious best — a giant reduced to ten men, a minnow daring to dream, and a winner that even the statisticians cannot agree on. Zvezda got their three points, but Inter got everyone's respect, and on another night Diaz's nine saves earn the draw they deserved. Will Inter Club d'Escaldes take their first point before this league phase is over? Let us know in the comments.
