The Red Lions secured another vital win in their European qualification campaign on Tuesday night, beating Bosnia and Herzegovina 2-0 at the Bilino Polje stadium.
Fresh from their victory over Liechtenstein at the weekend, Luxembourg attacked from the outset, as Yvandro Borges stunned the home crowd into silence with a daring early strike, pouncing upon a mistake by the Bosnian goalkeeper. Shaken by the early goal, Bosnia and Herzegovina dominated possession for most of the first half, yet failed to convert any chances and were booed off the pitch by the home fans at half time.
As play resumed, things appeared shaky for the Luxembourgers as Dzeko won a penalty early into the second half, following a clumsy tackle by Florian Bohnert. Fortunately for Luc Holtz's men, Hadziahmetovic blazed the shot over the bar.
With less than 20 minutes to play, the Bosnian defence seemed to crumble following a pass from Barreiro to Danel Sinani, allowing the latter to score from 30 yards out, with goalkeeper Sehic nowhere to be seen. This sealed the deal for Luxembourg, despite nine minutes of extra time added on - the Red Lions held on until the final whistle, celebrating wildly as Holtz appeared to shed tears on the bench.
It had not been the most auspicious run-up to the match, as both Gerson Rodrigues and Vincent Thill made headlines for reasons outside of football. Both were excluded from the team after Rodrigues failed to turn up for training, and Thill left the national team's camp of his own accord after the Liechtenstein match. But the Red Lions prevailed in their absence, delivering a result Holtz will surely be proud of, and will head into the summer break with seven points from four games in Group J.
Elsewhere, Portugal beat Iceland 1-0, while Slovakia hold onto second place following a 1-0 win over Liechtenstein.
Text commentary: as it happened
FLF squad
Goalkeepers: Moris A., Pereira T., Schon R.
Defenders: Carlson D., Chanot M., Dzogovic E., Jans L., Korac S., Mahmutovic E., Martins M
Midfielders:Barreiro L., Bohnert F., Gerson L., Martins C., Olesen M., Rupil T.
Strikers: Curci A., Elshan L., Jonathans D., Sanches Y., Sinani Da., Sinani De.
