BELGRADE, Nov. 14 (Xinhua) -- Serbia defeated Luxembourg 3-2 here on Thursday in a desperate battle to stay in the race for the Euro 2020.
In a match without audience due to UEFA ban, the home team seemed to still benefit the advantage of the home Rajko Mitic stadium in Belgrade, and sent a streak of shots just outside the goal of the guest team.
They gained their first advantage in the 11th minute when Dusan Tadic sent a long pass towards Aleksandar Mitrovic who shook the net of Anthony Moris with his head.
Serbia continued with aggressive offense, mostly through Adem Ljajic and Dusan Tadic, sending shot after shot towards the goal of Luxembourg, until Mitrovic created yet another chance after a counterattack, and check-mated the keeper with a long shot.
With two goals ahead, Serbian teem seemed to back down, and in 54th minute allowed a long pass of Dirk Carlson to the danger zone, where Gerson Rodrigues caught it and scored.
Serbia expanded the lead again to 3-1 in the 70th minute, when Mitrovic assisted Nemanja Radonjic in a counterattack, but just four minutes later David Turpel reduced it again to 3-2 with a header, and set the final score for this match.
On Sunday third-ranked Serbia will fight to qualify for the competition against the group leader Ukraine in the final match of the group stage, but can overcame second-ranked Portugal only if it loses from the fourth-ranked Luxembourg.
