Celje Settles a Tight Duel with a Late Double Strike Against Ararat-Armenia

Celje pulled away for a clear 2-0 win over Ararat-Armenia at Stadion Z'dezele, in a match that stayed locked up for almost its entire length until two lightning strikes late in the game broke the deadlock. What looked headed toward a scoreless draw ended up tilting in the home side's favor thanks to a pair of goals scored between the 82nd and 84th minutes.

A tight duel settled in ten minutes

The first half produced no goals and was defined more by cards than by clear chances: Alwyn Tera and Hugo Oliveira, both of Ararat-Armenia, picked up yellow cards in the 18th minute, while Leonardo Koutris did the same for Celje in the 31st. The score stayed level at the break, 0-0, after one minute of stoppage time added by the fourth official.

The second half opened with an early move from Celje, who sent on Benjamin Verbic right from the start of the second half in place of Koutris. The match remained tight: more yellow cards for Artemijus Tutyskinas and Milot Avdyli, and a series of substitutions on both sides looking to freshen up the attack, with Yaya Dukuly and Matej Poplatnik coming on for Celje, and Maxence Carlier and Franca doing the same for Ararat-Armenia.

The script flipped suddenly in the closing stretch. In the 82nd minute, Yaya Dukuly connected on a left-footed shot after an assist from Milot Avdyli to make it 1-0. Just two minutes later, in the 84th, Benjamin Verbic extended the lead with another left-footed strike to make it a final 2-0, a celebration that cost him a yellow card for excessive celebrating. Ararat-Armenia tried to respond with the introductions of Alioune Ndour and Juan Balanta in the final minutes, but there was no time or energy left to pull one back, and the match closed out with four minutes of stoppage time without further incident.

What the contrast with the preview says

The projection published before the match gave Ararat-Armenia a 48% chance of winning, compared to 29% for Celje and 23% for a draw. The preview's expected goals pointed to an offensive-minded match, with 1.60 expected goals for Celje and 2.07 for Ararat-Armenia, for an estimated total of 3.67. The result ended up contradicting that read: it was Celje, the side less favored by that projection, who won convincingly and without conceding, while the Armenian side, tagged as the favorite, failed to turn its theoretical edge into clear chances over the 90 minutes.

What the match leaves behind

Celje broke open a match that had stayed locked up with two precise strikes in barely ten minutes, leaning on the substitutions it brought off the bench, especially the contributions of Dukuly and Verbic, who were directly involved in both goals. For Ararat-Armenia, the loss leaves the sense of a team that couldn't find the spaces it needed despite the expectations it carried into the stadium, and that ultimately paid dearly for its lack of sharpness in the decisive minutes. The match was officiated by Marco Guida as the main referee, assisted by Giorgio Peretti and Valerio Colarossi, with Fabio Maresca serving as the fourth official.