JAKARTA - Indonesian national team defender Calvin Verdonk helped his team Lille qualify for the 2025/2026 Europa League 16th round when winning the second leg of the play-off against Crvena Zvezda or Red Star Belgrade at Rajko Mitic, early Friday WIB.
Verdonk in this match, as reported by Antara, came down in extra time, with his presence on the field also helping Lille win 2-0 or 2-1 on aggregate.
In this match, Lille started the match well when Olivier Giroud headed the ball from Benjamin Andre's cross in the 4th minute, to lead his team and equalize the aggregate to 1-1. This is the 4th goal of the 39-year-old striker in the Europa League or his 5th goal in all competitions.
The goal at the beginning of the match made Lille play with full confidence. In the remaining five minutes of the first half, the team coached by coach Bruno Genesio almost added to the lead through two opportunities for Matias Fernandez, who was unfortunately still thwarted by the host's goalkeeper, Matheus.
After taking the lead in the first half, Lille's game played a little bit down in the second half. The only dangerous opportunity came from them in the 50th minute through Gaetan Perrin's foot in the 50th minute. Unfortunately, this opportunity was thwarted by Matheus.
Both teams failed to score in the second half, so the 1-1 aggregate was continued to the extra time. In this round, coach Bruno made two changes, one of which was to include Nathan Ngoy who replaced Tiago Santos in the 95th minute.
The change paid off after Ngoy needed just four minutes to put his name on the scoresheet, when his shot from Felix Correia's short pass tore through the Red Star Belgrade goal.
This goal gave Lille a two-goal lead without reply and put them temporarily ahead 2-1 on aggregate. This situation was then taken advantage of by Bruno to make the score more secure, with him making a refresh in the back line, where Verdonk came in to replace Romain Perraud.
The contribution of the 28-year-old left-back, who played his 22nd game with Lille this season, also helped his team maintain this score, with Sofascore recording him making two tackles, two ball recoveries, 11 touches, and nine passes with an accuracy of 56 percent while on the field.
Lille also came out as the winner and qualified for the round of 16 with an aggregate victory of 2-1. Their opponents in the round of 16 will be known in the draw scheduled to take place tonight.
The latest results of the 2025/2026 Europa League 16-team play-off:
Crvena Zvezda 0-2 Lille (aggregate 1-2)
Viktoria Plzen 1-1 Panathinaikos (aggregate 3-3, Panathinaikos won on penalties 4-3)
Stuttgart 0-1 Celtic (4-2)
Ferencvaros 2-0 Ludogorets (3-2)
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