Serbia got a point thanks to a goal in the setup! Birmančević, a substitute, was able to enjoy the celebrations

Group B is moving into its halfway point and now Slovenia and Serbia are behind us. The Serbs were the favourites and are the happier team after the match. They equalised in the set-up and kept their hopes of progressing alive.

The Slovenians can be basically satisfied with their first match. They managed to score against the favourite Denmark and keep their hopes of progressing from the group alive.

It was the Serbians who fell to England, the tournament favourites, in the opening round. However, they received only one goal, which may be useful for the rest of the group. But they needed at least not to lose to Slovenia.

Slovenia’s Adam Gnezda Cerin had the first chance in the 4th minute, but Predrag Rajkovic made a great save. He also saved his team in the 8th minute after an attempt by Jan Malkar.

After less than half an hour of play, the Serbs also got angry, more precisely Dusan Vlahovic. He jumped on the centre and his header was cleared by the goalkeeper. It was similar a few minutes later, however, Aleksandar Mitrovic’s header went wide of the target.

In the 38th minute, Slovenia’s Timi Max Elšnik hit the bar and then Benjamin Šeško got a shot off, but he fumbled and missed the open goal. On the other side, Jan Oblak succeeded against Mitrovic.

He intervened against the same player shortly after returning to the pitch in the second half. Mitrovic had chance after chance, but he missed another one in the 51st minute.

The goal came in the 69th minute when Elšnik found a free Žan Karničnik and he sent the ball into the empty net. Slovenia took the lead and would have been close to progressing from the group.

From then on, the Serbs got even more worked up and Mitrovic missed another great chance. In the 72nd minute he only hit the crossbar. Sergej Milinkovic-Savic then headed just wide of the target from close range.

Sparta winger Veljko Birmančević also came on for the last ten minutes and was able to enjoy the celebrations in stoppage time when Luka Jović equalised. The Serbs still have a chance to advance after a 1-1 draw, while the Slovenes deprived themselves of it.

Source: UEFA