artmedia ease through to juve tie published: wednesday 6 august 2008, 23.45cet fc artmedia petržalka 4-2 tampere united (agg: 7-3) artmedia will take on juventus for a place in the group stage after ending the finnish champions' challenge.
by rastislav hribik from bratislava
fc artmedia petržalka will take on juventus for a place in the uefa champions league group stage after ending the second qualifying round challenge of tampere united.
in control a 3-1 win in finland last week had given the slovakian side control of the tie and they were in charge in the second leg from the moment ján kozák converted a ninth-minute penalty. they will travel to turin next week aiming to repeat their run to the 2005/06 group stage.
artmedia goals within ten seconds artmedia threatened as forward juraj halenár was sent through only to shoot off target, and it was not long before the deadlock was broken, jussi kujala bringing down zbyněk pospěch in the box and artmedia captain kozák converting the spot kick. kozák then began the move that led to the second goal in the 35th minute, his superb pass finding juraj piroška, who touched on for pospěch to score from 16 metres. before the break there was still time for halenár to make up for his early miss as he turned in juraj piroška's pass.
consolations tampere knew their campaign was over but they did not lose heart after the break and an eight-minute spell starting in the 72nd minute ensured some late excitement. the visitors were awarded a penalty conceded by pavol farkaš – whose booking tonight leaves him suspended for the trip to italy – and chris james made no mistake from the spot. although piroška struck six minutes later to restore artmedia's cushion, tampere substitute jonne hjelm claimed the last goal of the tie.
