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European Under-21s Championship | Group Stage
Jun 20, 2017 at 5pm UK
 

2-2

Gacinovic (24'), Djurdjevic (90')
FT(HT: 1-0)
Bardhi (64' pen.), Gjorgjev (83')

Serbia Under-21s, Macedonia Under-21s play out entertaining draw

Serbia Under-21s and Macedonia Under-21s play out a 2-2 draw in their Group B fixture at Under-21 Euro 2017.

Serbia Under-21s and Macedonia Under-21s have played out an entertaining 2-2 draw, but both nations are now on the brink of elimination from Under-21 Euro 2017.

It appeared as though a late effort from Nikola Gjorgjev had won it for Macedonia, but Uros Djurdjevic's last-minute header got Serbia back on level terms.

The result leaves the teams below both Spain and Portugal in Group B, but one more win for either of those sides will leave both Serbia and Macedonia out of the running for the semi-finals.

Throughout the first half Serbia looked a class above their opponents, but somehow they remained on level terms after squandering three clear-cut chances in the opening quarter of an hour.

Nemanja Maksimovic was the first player to miss, with his half-volley from eight yards being directed over the crossbar, before Mijat Gacinovic drilled a 20-yard volley over despite having time and space.

Moments later, Marko Grujic glanced a header wide of the post as Macedonia struggled to get out of their own half but on 24 minutes, Serbia finally went in front.

Despite having two penalty appeals turned down, the ball fell to Gacinovic who found a way past Igor Aleksovski for his third goal for his country.

As half time edged closer, Grujic hit a shot straight at Aleksovski from around the penalty spot, and he was nearly made to pay when Enis Bardhi's free kick forced a save out of Vanja Milinkovic-Savic.

Macedonia needed to improve after the restart and they did just that as Bardhi forced Milinkovic-Savic into another save from a free kick, but Serbia hit straight back with Gacinovic just missing out on getting a touch to a through-ball.

There was a suggestion that Serbia were starting to deal with what Macedonia had to offer but on 63 minutes, they were gifted a chance to get back on level terms when Andrija Zivkovic handled inside the penalty area.

Bardhi was given responsibility from 12 yards and he made no mistake as he found the corner with a confident effort which left Milinkovic-Savic not needing to dive to his left.

Due to their respective results on Saturday, both nations were in a position where a draw was realistically not enough to give them hope of remaining in the tournament, but neither team threw caution to the wind ahead of the closing stages.

However, with seven minutes remaining, Macedonia completed the turnaround through Gjorgjev, who cut inside onto his right foot before sending a deflected effort past Milinkovic-Savic from 20 yards out.

It did not take long for Serbia to mount a response with Ognjen Ozegovic being denied from close range, but Serbia had their equaliser with a minute of normal time remaining as Djurdevic headed home at the back post.

Moments later, Zivkovic hit the post with a header for Serbia but after missing out by the smallest of margins, it left both nations to contemplate a probable exit from the tournament.

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