Serbia had longed for a sting in the tail of a year-long saga in which football has rarely taken precedence, and it arrived in the most devastating of fashions here. Albania had certainly not done enough to win this second Group I meeting between these bitter rivals, the Serbs generally dominating from the 20-minute mark, but a draw would have at least meant that a point in Armenia on Sunday would qualify them for their first major tournament.
When it came, the blow was a double one – Aleksandar Kolarov sidefooting crisply across Etrit Berisha as added time began and then, with Albania in disarray, Adem Ljajic running clear to score confidently and prompt wild celebrations among Serbia’s staff and team-mates in a sullen, eerily silent Elbasan Arena. Albania must now win in Yerevan.
This was set up to be Albania’s biggest party. Qualification for the first time for the finals of a major tournament would have been secured with victory over Serbia, and would have been unthinkably sweet to the thousands of supporters who had made the journey to Elbasan, many of whom had arrived early in the morning. The security operation that had been put in place to avoid any repeats of last year’s abandonment in Belgrade appeared to have been successful in the hours leading up to the game and a similar level of diligence on the pitch would have given Gianni De Biasi’s team a fighting chance of making history.
Albania began like a team keen to cut through any simmering tension. Much of their success in this qualifying campaign has been based on disciplined defending but they were on the front foot early on, finding plenty of space on the flanks and almost profiting when the right-back Andi Lila headed a presentable chance at Vladimir Stojkovic.
It turned out to be a brief flurry. This is not a team laden with guile in open play and they struggled to get behind a Serbia side that gradually wrested control. On a man-for-man basis it barely seems credible that the Serbs are bottom of this group and a first flash of quality arrived 22 minutes in, when a clever Dusan Tadic corner to the near post was flicked back to Branislav Ivanovic, whose 12-yard shot was high and profligate.
Little had occurred to raise the crowd’s hackles, although the referee Nicola Rizzoli was obliged to book the Serbia midfielder Luka Milivojevic in the third minute. The dark-clad figures of a sniper and two spotters could just be made out on top of one of the buildings surrounding the stadium but the only semblances to controversy were the crowd’s chants in support of Ismael Morina, who piloted the drone that interrupted last year’s fixture but watched this match – if he was lucky – from a police cell. The stadium was full to its 12,800 capacity apart from a conspicuous bank of seats among the ultras whose number roughly matched the 30 tickets seized from Morina on Wednesday morning.
An atmosphere that felt more nervous than combustible would not have improved if a shot by Ljajic, deflected past Berisha eight minutes before half-time, had been allowed to stand. Instead Rizzoli correctly ruled that Tadic, sliding along a sodden surface, had fouled Berisha; an altercation ensured inside the six-yard box but with little genuine appetite for prolonged rancour.
Serbia, technically superior and rarely missing a defensive header when balls were aimed towards the lone striker Bekim Balaj, had skillfully removed the sting from the occasion, perhaps aided by the sheets of rain that pounded a stadium exposed to the elements. It was noticeable, too, that the security operation appeared to have succeeded in preventing any flares from being brought into the ground.
In truth this had developed into a tame affair, any challenges niggly rather than laced with the menace that had been obvious in Belgrade even before the match was halted. Albania started the second half with renewed vigour, the captain Lorik Cana taking down a corner and shooting wide from 15 yards before a low Taulant Xhala cross-shot from the right was not far from being deflected into the Serbian goal.
Serbia’s composure was eroded when Ivanovic, who had enjoyed a comfortable night at centre-back, was substituted after appearing to pull his hamstring. Dusko Tosic replaced him but the reorganisation had little negative effect until 13 minutes from time, when the Albania substitute Sokol Cikalleshi ran into the area and – with Ermir Lenjani in a seemingly better position to his left – forced a fine one-handed save from Stojkovic. From the resulting corner, Cana leapt high at the far post but could only clear the crossbar.
These had been comfortably the home side’s best chances of the game. News that Portugal had taken the lead over Denmark confirmed that converting the next one would almost certainly take Albania through. But no late barrage materialised and instead it was Kolarov, stealing in from an angle to finish with characteristic crispness, who caused jaws to drop before Ljajic chipped in to complete the victory. The stadium was struck dumb.
