maribor away win ends dudelange's european run published: wednesday 8 august 2012, 19.45cet f91 dudelange 0-1 nk maribor (agg: 1-5) aleš mertelj scored the only goal of the game as the slovenian champions booked their place in the play-offs with a comfortable aggregate victory.
by matthias rötters from jos nosbaum
f91 dudelange's european adventure was brought to an end as nk maribor secured victory in luxembourg to book their place in the uefa champions league play-offs.
with a 4-1 lead from last week's first leg in maribor, the slovenian visitors knew they just had to keep it tight to progress. indeed, darko milanič's side were rarely troubled and aleš mertelj's goal 11 minutes from time sealed a comfortable aggregate victory and a place in friday's play-off draw.
dudelange needed a fast start if they were to reduce the first-leg deficit but bryan melisse's 22nd-minute free-kick, which hit the outside of the left-hand post, was the closest they came in an opening half of few chances. maribor almost broke the deadlock through dejan mezga ten minutes later but his strike drifted narrowly wide.
maribor grew into the contest after the break and robert berić could have given them the lead but he failed to score when one-on-one with goalkeeper jonathan joubert. second-half substitute agim ibraimi struck a post for the visitors on 74 minutes and their pressure finally paid off moments later. mertelj latched on to zeljko filipovič's pass to score from close range and the winning margin could have been greater had nikola komazec or marcos tavares converted late on.
