Valletta defeated by Red Star Belgrade

Valletta took the initiative from the beginning and managed to go ahead after fifteen minutes when Aguirre found Falcone, who fired a stunning shot that ended up behind Kahriman.

On the 32nd minute, Falcone was close to double the score when he received a pass from Jhonnattann, before putting the ball past the Serbian goalkeeper. However, the assistant referee raised his flag for an offside.

Seven minutes later, Valletta suffered a setback as Falcone had to be substituted after suffering an injury. The Argentine was replaced by Santiago Malano.

Santiago had a chance to score the second goal for Valletta on the 47th minute when he went through on goal, but was anticipated by Kahriman who was fouled by the Argentine striker.

Red Stars tried to put pressure on the Citizens and were denied an equaliser on the 60th minute after Bonello made an excellent save to deny Mouche.

The Serbian team managed to get the equaliser five minutes later. Katai went past Ian Azzopardi before placing the ball behind Bonello.

Valletta failed to hit back and conceded another goal on the 75th minute. Katai sent a cross from the left that found Sikimic, who made no mistake in front of Bonello to score the second goal for the Red Stars.

The Citizens will now have a difficult task as they travel to Serbia for the second leg that will be played next Tuesday.

Valletta starting line-up: Bonello, Caruana(C), Azzopardi, S. Borg, Gill, Briffa, Falcone, Pani, Aguirre, Jhonnattann, Romeu.

Red Star Belgrade starting line-up: Kahriman, Luković(C),  Le Tallec, Kanga, Katai, M. Cvetković, Donald, S. Srnić, Hugo Vieira, Ibáñez, Phibel.

Yellow cards

Vieira (Red Stars), Romeu (Valletta), Katai (Red Stars), Pani (Valletta), Kanga (Red Stars).

Referee

Alexander Harkam (AUT)