Milsami Orhei was beaten by Saint-Etienne France 3-0 in the first-leg match of the Europa League third qualifying round.

The ‘eagles’ received the first goal in the third minute, when Brazilian player Brandao scored from a distance of several meters. The situation became more difficult in a while, when Renaud Cohade scored another goal for Saint-Etienne. Milsami recovered in the second half and endangered the hosts’ goal for several times. In the 67th minute, fullback Denis Rassulov was eliminated after being shown the second yellow card. But the Moldovan team’s chances to qualify were spoiled by the same Brandao, who scored again towards the end of the game.  

The return game will be played in Chisinau on August 8.

Also on August 1, in the Europa League qualifiers, Kuban Krasnodar, which includes Moldovan footballers Igor Armas and Andrei Martin, won away against Motherwell Scotland 2-0. Rubin Kazan, where Moldova‘s Alexandru Matiura works as an assistant coach and Ion Tanpeu as a doctor, scored away a 2-1 victory against Randers Denmark.