malmö: mattias asper (gk), anders andersson (dk. 61 jari litmanen), olof persson (dk. 85 peter abelsson), thomas olsson, joseph elanga, afonso alves, yksel osmanovski (dk. 88 samuel barlay), jon inge høiland, patrik andersson (c), jesper bech, daniel andersson
yedekler: lee baxter (gk), glenn holgersson, behrang safari, marcus pode
malmö profit from last-gasp drama published: wednesday 3 august 2005, 23.25cet maccabi haifa fc 2-2 malmö ff (agg: 4-5) a last-gasp goal from substitute peter abelsson sends malmö through.
by ofer ronen-abels at bloomfield stadium
a last-gasp goal from substitute peter abelsson brought heartbreak for ten-man maccabi haifa fc in israel as malmö ff edged though to the uefa champions league third qualifying round in front of a sell-out 15,000 crowd in tel-aviv.
abelsson drama with the swedish side heading out of the competition on the away-goals rule, the 28-year-old defender was introduced with just five minutes remaining - a final gamble for coach tom prahl. and the move paid dividends within three minutes as abelsson rose to head malmö into a 5-4 aggregate lead.
colautti opener amazingly, it was the fourth time the swedish team had come from behind in a frenetic tie. maccabi haifa twice took the lead in the first leg last wednesday, but were unable to keep their noses in front as malmö fought back to take a 3-2 lead to israel. it took just ten minutes for the home side to cancel that narrow advantage tonight though when roberto colautti broke the deadlock.
pivotal moment a slip from veteran goalkeeper nir davidovic, fumbling a simple cross, then presented afonso alves the simplest of headers to make it 1-1. both sides had opportunities to score but it was the 54th-minute introduction of shlomi arbeitman that proved pivotal. the 20-year-old scored his first goal for the club six minutes later but lasted just ten more minutes before he received a second yellow card for handball.
'cruel defeat' nevertheless, the advantage still lay with the israeli side courtesy of the away-goals rule but in a tie with so many twists, there was always likely to be another. and so it was that another substitute, abelsson, swooped to score a dramatic last-gasp goal and leave maccabi haifa coach roni levy ruing "a cruel defeat".
'great win' unsurprisingly, prahl was more upbeat: "it’s a great win, a great result for us." they will now face fc thun, with the home first leg next week.
