North Macedonia vs Luxembourg. European Championship Qualifying Group C.
City Stadium SkopjeAttendance7,000.
North Macedonia 3
- A Trajkovski (20th minute)
- A Jahovic (66th minute pen)
- B Abdurahimi (92nd minute)
Luxembourg 2
- S Bensi (39th minute)
- D Turpel (44th minute)
European Qualifiers: Macedonia snatch late winner to sink Luxembourg 3-2 in Skopje
Thursday 9 October 2014 22:23, UK
Besart Abdurahimi scored a dramatic stoppage-time winner to hand FYR Macedonia a 3-2 victory over Luxembourg in European Championship qualifying Group C on Thursday night.
Perennial whipping boys Luxembourg opened their campaign by taking a point from their clash with Belarus and looked set to continue their recent good form, which includes a friendly draw against Italy, before Abdurahimi's stunner at the death in Skopje on Thursday.
Aleksandar Trajkovski opened the scoring but two quick goals from Stefano Bensi and David Turpel had Luxembourg ahead before Adis Jahovic equalised from the penalty spot.
That looked to be it but Abdurahimi fired home from outside the penalty box to get Macedonia off the mark in their qualifying campaign.
Jovan Kostovski had the first chance of the night for the hosts but he could not find the target when found in space from a corner.
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Macedonia took the lead in the 19th minute when Trajkovski latched onto Jonathan Joubert's clearance and came forward before beating the goalkeeper with a low finish.
The hosts continued to have the better of things but were rocked by two goals in five minutes as Luxembourg took a lead into the break.
Bensi curled home a beautiful free-kick six minutes before the interval and five minutes later Turpel got on the end of a Bensi flick to slot between Tomislav Pacovski's legs and turn the game on its head.
Macedonia made the better start to the second half and Daniel Mojsov headed wide from a corner before Kostovski put a volley over the bar from six yards.
They eventually drew level in the 66th minute but they needed a penalty to do it.
Chris Philipps brought down Abdurahimi and fellow substitute Jahovic made no mistake from 12 yards.
Both sides pressed for a winner in the closing stages but the game looked set for a draw before Abdurahimi's dramatic intervention broke Luxembourg hearts.
