Zimbru Chisinau tied 1-1 the first-leg game of the Europa League second qualifying round with Bulgaria’s champion CSKA Sofia away. Zimbru started to lead after the 31st minute, after the goal scored by Serghei Alexeev. But the hosts drew in 10 minutes, through Anton Karachanakov, IPN reports.

Serghei Alexeev played his first match for Zimbru after leaving Veris. In the 83rd minute, he was replaced by Alexandru Grosu, who was close to scoring towards the end of the game. The Bulgarians also had a good occasion for scoring in the last minutes, but goalkeeper Denis Rusu prevented a goal from a free kick.

“I’m satisfied with my team’s performance. The performance of the referee is the only thing that dissatisfied me. He showed too many yellow cards to my players,” Zimbru coach Oleg Kubarev said after the match.

“We understand that the return game will not be easy, but we are optimistic,” said the coach of CSKA Stoycho Mladenov.

The return game will be played in Chisinau on July 24, starting at 8pm.