CSKA began the defense of the Sesame Cup of Bulgaria with a difficult success over Nessebar. "Army" won 2:0 in their visit to the seaside town with two late goals. Ioannis Pitas opened the scoring from a penalty in the 89th minute, and Mohamed Brahimi (90+6') put an end to the dispute.
"The Reds" played with fire and an unpleasant scenario could have come to them. At the end of the first half, Dimitar Evtimov made an important save face to face with the "Dolphins" striker Kristiyan Parashkevov. The bad news for the visitors is that Joel Zwartz and Barry Cotter were forced off the pitch with injuries.
Marcus Gizdol made eight changes compared to the clash with Monaco (1:2) in the Conference League three days ago. Only Facundo Rodriguez, Bruno Jordao and Leandro Godoy retained their places in the starting eleven.
CSKA will play Nordsjaelland on Thursday, while Nessebar returns to the Second League with a match against Hebar in Pazardzhik next Friday.
Before the start of the match, both teams observed a minute's silence in memory of Yuri Vasev, who passed away yesterday after a long and serious illness.
In the fourth minute, Eto'o shot an inaccurate volley from the edge of the penalty area. After that, the game developed mainly in the home team's half, but without any serious danger in front of Martin Sheytanov's goal.
In the 26th minute, Mohamed Brahimi broke through from the left, and his cross from a small angle hit the right side post. Just 60 seconds later, Zvarts headed a shot, which, however, went wide of the target.
In the 34th minute, Sheytanov made an excellent save after a strong shot by Zvarts, and in the added time, Godoy missed from close range.
In the 40th minute, Barry Cotter also tried his luck from long range, but his shot also missed the goal.
Two minutes later, Nessebar created the clearest chance of the match. Stefan Stattev masterfully brought Parashkevov face to face with Dimitar Evtimov, but the visitors' goalkeeper shone with a great save.
At the very end of the first half, Martin Sheitanov acted unreadably after a cross from the right flank, but his mistake was corrected by Lastardzhiev, who cleared the ball in front of the goal line.
At the beginning of the second half, Joel Zvarts suffered a sprain and was forced to be substituted. Leo Pereira came on in his place.
In the 55th minute, Brahimi found himself in a good shooting position, but he failed to make a quality shot and CSKA only won a corner.
In the 66th minute, Isaac Sole delivered a tricky shot under the top bar, and Sheitanov stretched himself to the maximum and knocked it out. A quarter of an hour before the end of regular time, Pereira shot weakly straight into the hands of the opposing goalkeeper.
In the 87th minute, the "army" team received a penalty after the ball hit Plamen Dimov's hand. Ioannis Pitas took responsibility for the execution and made no mistake - 0:1.
In the first minute of added time, Evtimov had to intervene after a direct free kick by Valentin Dotsev.
Seconds before the final whistle, Mohamed Brahimi finally killed the intrigue with a second goal in the Nessebar goal.
Nessebar 0:2 CSKA
0:1 Ioannis Pitas (89-d)
0:2 Mohamed Brahimi (90+6)
Starting lineups:
Nessebar: 13. Martin Sheytanov, 14. Dimitar Balinov, 3. Danail Lastardzhiev, 5. Plamen Dimov, 23. Ivan Stoyanov, 8. Viktor Kunev, 88. Maximilian Simeonov, 19. Mohamed Bilel, 11. Daniel Cabanelas, 99. Kristian Parashkevov, 77. Stefan Stattev;
CSKA: 25. Dimitar Evtimov, 37. Barry Cotter, 14. Teodor Ivanov, 32. Facundo Rodriguez, 19. Andrey Yordanov, 6. Bruno Jordao, 94. Isaac Sole, 99. James Eto'o, 11. Mohamed Brahimi, 9. Leandro Godoy, 10. Joel Zwartz.