malmö profit from last-gasp drama published: wednesday 3 august 2005, 23.25cet maccabi haifa fc 2-2 malmö ff (agg: 4-5) a last-gasp goal from substitute peter abelsson sends malmö through.
by ofer ronen-abels at bloomfield stadium
a last-gasp goal from substitute peter abelsson brought heartbreak for ten-man maccabi haifa fc in israel as malmö ff edged though to the uefa champions league third qualifying round in front of a sell-out 15,000 crowd in tel-aviv.
abelsson drama with the swedish side heading out of the competition on the away-goals rule, the 28-year-old defender was introduced with just five minutes remaining - a final gamble for coach tom prahl. and the move paid dividends within three minutes as abelsson rose to head malmö into a 5-4 aggregate lead.
colautti opener amazingly, it was the fourth time the swedish team had come from behind in a frenetic tie. maccabi haifa twice took the lead in the first leg last wednesday, but were unable to keep their noses in front as malmö fought back to take a 3-2 lead to israel. it took just ten minutes for the home side to cancel that narrow advantage tonight though when roberto colautti broke the deadlock.
pivotal moment a slip from veteran goalkeeper nir davidovic, fumbling a simple cross, then presented afonso alves the simplest of headers to make it 1-1. both sides had opportunities to score but it was the 54th-minute introduction of shlomi arbeitman that proved pivotal. the 20-year-old scored his first goal for the club six minutes later but lasted just ten more minutes before he received a second yellow card for handball.
'cruel defeat' nevertheless, the advantage still lay with the israeli side courtesy of the away-goals rule but in a tie with so many twists, there was always likely to be another. and so it was that another substitute, abelsson, swooped to score a dramatic last-gasp goal and leave maccabi haifa coach roni levy ruing "a cruel defeat".
'great win' unsurprisingly, prahl was more upbeat: "it’s a great win, a great result for us." they will now face fc thun, with the home first leg next week.
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