Gzira United progressed into the third round of UEFA Conference League qualifiers on Thursday after a dramatic 3-3 finish in Nis needed a penalty shootout against Radnicki NIS.

It was the home team that looked the strongest throughout the match, with Gzira playing catch up no less than three times – Jefferson cancelling Anton Tolordava’s opener, the Brazilian doing it again 10 minutes into injury time for extra time, and Maxuell sending the tie to penalties after an Aleksandar Pejovic spotkick in extra time.

Goalscorer Maxuell Maia was surprisingly left out of the starting 11, as was Luis Riascos in coach Abdilla’s largely unchanged lineup. Radnicki on the other hand, made wholesale changes as goalkeeper Filip Dujmovic, Nemanja Jovicic, Maka Gakou, and Stefan Dimic all got the nod after having started on the bench last week.

Gzira started on the right foot with a Nikolai Muscat shot from the edge of the area which was saved by Dujmovic. However, it was the Serbian side that went ahead after 14 minutes when a corner was met by Anton Tolordava who fired in first-time.

The Serbians’ celebrations were cut short when from the restart, Gzira equalised. A Gabriel Bohrer Mentz longball right after kick-off found Jefferson on the run, who escaped his marker right inside the area, and similarly to his goal against Atletic Escaldes, he fired into the top corner to the disappointment of the Radnicki players.

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