Ukraine's Ruslan Malinovskiy (L) vies with Serbia's Nemanja Gudelj during the group B match between Serbia and Ukraine at the UEFA Euro 2020 qualifier in Belgrade, Serbia on Nov. 17, 2019. (Photo by Predrag Milosavljevic/Xinhua)
BELGRADE, Nov. 17 (Xinhua) -- Serbia failed to secure a direct ticket for UEFA Euro 2020, as they tied 2-2 with Group B leader Ukraine here on Sunday in the final match of the qualifications.
Just 9 minutes after the match started at the Rajko Mitic stadium, Ukraine's Mykola Matviyenko stopped a shot of Dusan Tadic with his hand within box, and the referee awarded a penalty.
Tadic made it to gift Serbia 1-0 lead. However, in the 32nd minute Viktor Tsyhankov sent a pass well over home defense, which was picked up and turned into a score by Roman Yaremchuk.
The two teams started the second half from 1-1, but just minutes into the period, Tadic assisted Aleksandar Mitrovic to score his 10th goal in the qualifications and Serbia retook the lead at 2-1.
Both teams lost edge in offense and didn't create many chances, so victory seemed certain for Serbia.
However, in the injury time, Artem Besyedin, who came from the bench some 15 minutes earlier, tied the score at 2-2.
Ukraine ended the qualifications as the leader of Group B with 20 points, followed by Portugal with 17 points and Serbia with 14 points.
A total of 55 teams that entered the EUFA Euro 2020 qualification were divided into 10 groups. The top two of each group will qualify directly. The other four berths will be decided by playoffs.
Serbia will look for a second chance to qualify in the Nations League Finals next year.
