Europa League 1st round Qualifier - 2nd leg
Pelister (Macedonia) 0 Lech Poznan (Poland) 3
Attendance - 350 (played in Strumica)
Pelister is a club based in Bitola which is about 190km from Strumica. At this point their stadium in Bitola is not up to UEFA standards. Uusually, most European Cup matches would be played in Skopje at the national stadium, but for the month of July, UEFA said that no matches must be played at the stadium because of the UEFA Super Cup (August 8th) in Skopje.
It was my luck that I was in Strumica for the month of July, and the stadium was the only other one in the country which met UEFA standards. I should say that it probably barely met UEFA standards. It was a mess! Broken seats, dirt, cobwebs, bird poop etc. All of this was expected by me, because I had been to the stadium numerous times over the past 8 years. I just had hope that there would have been some renovation to the facility, but this was not the case. With that being said, the pitch was in perfect condition.
Poznan won the first leg 3-0, so this match was basically a formality. Despite this, one hundred (or so) Lech supporters made their way to Strumica. I will assume that it must have been a huge shock for them. The facilities and the heat, but I do not remember reading any complaints (unlike the Malmo supporters, but more on that later). It was 37C at kick off and the Lech supporters had to sit in the uncovered part of the stadium. They were quite for most of the match, and I assumed that they all had heat stroke! As for the match, the less said about it the better, it was awful to watch.
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