Rijeka players beat Celje 3-0 (0-0) in the 5th round of the Conference League.
They scored the goals for Rijeka Daniel Adu-Adjei (55), Dejan Petrovic (71) i Tony Frock (78).
Rijeka played against the leading team of the Slovenian championship on their home field authoritative and dictated the pace from the very start. The home team had their first chance in the 18th minute when Vignat’s shot from distance was only briefly deflected by Leban, but Adu-Adjei did not react well to the rebound and missed from a good position.
The visitors responded 10 minutes later when Sturm ran down the left side and found Iosifov with a return ball, but the latter hit the post. The ball bounced off Vidović’s leg the attempt from the goal line was cleared by Radeljić.
He gave an indication of a more positive second half for Rijeka Fruk who in the 43rd minute managed to send a shot from the edge of the penalty area diagonally from the right side, but it was not accurate.
Rijeka took the lead in the 55th minute. First of all Orec fought for a shot that Leban kicked into the corner. The corner kick was taken by Vignato, Radeljić was the highest in the jump and headed the ball to the second post where he found himself Adu-Adjei and defeated Leban with a precise shot.
He had a nice opportunity to increase his lead Vignato in the 67th minute, when he had a lot of space and sent a strong shot from 22 meters that Leban deflected with his fingertips into the corner, and the Slovenian goalkeeper reacted perfectly three minutes later when Jurić’s header, which was going under the crossbar, was deflected into another corner kick.
However, from that corner, Rijeka managed to score the second goal. Again Vignato put it in the box, it’s again Radeljić managed to head it and put the ball down, this time on the leg Petroviča who succeeded in conquering Lebanon.
Rijeka’s road to victory was made even easier by Tutyškinas, who scored in the 75th minute sent off for a gross foul on Oreč. Majstorović’s header attempt after a free kick was saved by Leban immediately after being sent off, but that only delayed the third goal from Rijeka.
In the 78th minute, Vignato won the ball in front of the guests’ penalty area, and he worked Fruka who routinely overcame Lebanon.
Zlomislić made sure that the guests did not score even an honorable goal, who stopped Kovačević’s shot from a good position in stoppage time.
Round before the end of the competition, Rijeka is 14th in the group with eight points, one less than 12th Celje. In the last round, Rijeka will visit Shakhtar in Krakow in a week.
River: Zlomislić – Devetak, Majstorović, Radeljić, Oreč, Petrović, Dantas, Gojak, Vignato, Fruk, Adu-Adjei
Celje: Leban – Tutyškinas, Nieto, Bejger, Vuklišević, Kvesić, Vidović, Daniel, Kovačević, Iosifov, Sturm
(Hina | Photo: Goran Kovacic/PIXSELL)
