July 03, 2012: UEFA Champions League, 1st qual. round, 1st leg:
Linfield FC - B36 Tórshavn 0-0
B36 Tórshavn got a superb result in the 1st leg of the Champions League as they held Linfield FC to a 0-0 draw at Windsor Park in Belfast.
B36 started as the stronger side and twice Súni Olsen threatened with his always dangerous free kicks; one being stopped by the goalkeeper, while the other one went narrowly wide.
Linfield gradually worked their way into the game and got the upper hand halfway through the first half and after 39 minutes their dominance paid dividends as they were awarded a penalty after Danish defender Jonas Flindt Rasmussen had brought down Jamie Mulgrew. But B36 goalkeeper Meinhardt Joensen saved the poorly placed spot-kick from Peter Thompson.
Linfield continued with their domination in the second half and had plenty of finishes that were either saved by the goalkeeper or blocked or scrambled away to safety by the defence.
On 77 minutes Polish forward Lukasz Cieslewicz nearly gave B36 the lead against the run of play as he clipped the outside of the upright with a shot from the edge of the penalty area.
Six minutes later Joensen made a terrific save to keep out Mark McAllister’s header from a free kick.
B36 held firm in the remaining minutes to set up a thrilling encounter in Tórshavn in a week, 10 July at 17:00 GMT.
Video of the penalty-save
July 10, 2012: UEFA Champions League, 1st qual. round, 2nd leg:
B36 Tórshavn crash out of the Champion League on penalties against Linfield FC after stalemate in 120 minutes today and the other 90 minutes in Northern Ireland a week ago.
B36 nearly took the lead after only 3 minutes when Súni Olsen from a free kick found an unmarked Lukasz Cielslewicz on the edge of the goal area, but the Polish forward’s volley failed to connect properly with the ball which went over the goal. It was a really big chance that went begging. 3
B36 were well organized and defended extremely well and left Linfield with little space to manoeuvre on in the last third of the half, and although Linfield had a majority of the possession, they posed no threat what so ever to the B36-goal during the entire first half.
B36 had another fine opportunity shortly before the break when B36 combined well and got towards the by-line to serve the ball to Róaldur Jacobsen who from a steep angle missed the target at the near post.
In addition to that, B36 had a couple of half-chances; a header from Cieslewicz and a long range effort from Jacobsen.
B36 started brightly again in the second half when Jacobsen combined well with Cieslewicz who fired a shot right on the goalkeeper from inside the penalty area.
Súni Olsens’s low free kick from a meter or two from the by-line just after the hour-mark needed only a slight touch to turn it in, but the ball evaded the line of B36 players in the goal area.
A few minutes later Linfield were extremely close, but the low diagonal drive went just wide of the far post.
Although Linfield had majority of the possession in the 90 minutes, it was B36 who had a majority of scoring opportunities.
Linfield were close in the opening stages of extra time when the advanced goalkeeper Meinhardt Joensen was rounded, but the defence managed to clear the cross.
Just moments later Cieslewicz had the best effort of the match when Súni Olsen set him up, but the finish went just wide of the far post.
The B36 team seemed to be suffering from fatigue in the extra time, and the defence had to use two or three efforts to clear the Linfield crosses, which they had managed to clear with just one effort in the first 90 minutes.
Two minutes from the end of extra time Cieslewicz fired a shot from long range which the Linfield goalkeeper Ross Glendinning was relieved to see curl into the side-netting.
But Linfield should have snatched the winner with the last kick of the match, 1 minute into extra time’s added time, when Mark McAllister got completely clear in the goal area and had the goal at his mercy, but Joensen’s spread-eagle blocked the shot to force the game into a penalty shoot-out.
The extra time was a first for any Faroese club ever in a European cup game, and so was the shoot-out.
B36 got the worst thinkable start when Glendinning fisted Klæmint Matras’ strike under the crossbar and out.
Both teams then scored on their next penalties where Joensen was far away from making any save from the Linfield efforts, and also the B36 efforts were safely put away before Glendinning saved B36’s 5th penalty from Cieslewicz to advance trough to the second qualifying round where they will face AEL Limassol from Cyprus.