FCI Levadia were eliminated from the UEFA Conference League on Thursday after suffering a heartbreaking 1-3 extra-time defeat to Swedish side IFK Göteborg at A. Le Coq Arena. The result saw Göteborg overturn Levadia’s first-leg advantage and progress 4-3 on aggregate to the third qualifying round.
Levadia entered the second leg in a strong position after their victory in Sweden, but Göteborg dominated long spells of the return fixture and forced goalkeeper Karl Andre Vallner into one outstanding save after another. The Estonian international produced arguably one of the finest performances of his career, most notably denying the visitors from the penalty spot twice to keep the aggregate scores level.
Despite Vallner’s heroics, the breakthrough finally came in the second half when Adam Bergmark-Wiberg found the net to level the tie on aggregate. Levadia battled through the closing stages of normal time with Vallner coming up huge late in the regular time after saving the second penalty kick as they forced extra time, but the momentum had clearly shifted in Göteborg’s favour.
The Swedish side continued to press and were rewarded early in extra time as Wiberg struck his second goal of the evening from close range after Vallner had initially made another save. Substitute Saidou Alioum added a third before the end of the first period of extra time, leaving Levadia needing two goals to keep their European hopes alive.
The Estonian champions managed to pull one back through substitute Maksimilian Skvortsov in the closing minutes, briefly raising hopes of an unlikely comeback, but Göteborg saw out the remaining time to secure their place in the next round.
Levadia end their European campaign with three wins out of four games, giving Estonia valuable coefficient points. Now they turn their focus to the league, where they have a 10 point advantage over second place Flora.
