In a Group C match of the European Championship finished with a 1-1 tie, as Serbia – with the late game equalizer from Luka Jovic – snatched away the opportunity of Slovenia’s first win from their grasp. The match took place in Munich, and a last-minute goal from Jovic, the forward from AC Milan, kept Serbia’s tournament hope afloat against Slovenia. Serbia had previously lost their inaugural match 1-0 to England and were about to endure another similar fate, trailing behind Zan Karnicnik’s goal in the second half.
With this draw, neither Serbia nor Slovenia improved their odds of advancing into the top two. Earlier, Slovenia had drawn their inaugural match against Denmark with an identical score of 1-1. They now awaited the outcome of the England-Denmark fixture later on Thursday night.
The match opened with Slovenia putting on a strong initial performance. Jan Mlakar of Pisa took a low angled shot deflected by Serbian goalie Predrag Rajkovic. Serbia’s first opportunity of the game came late into the 27th minute, when Dusan Vlahovic’s header was saved by Jan Oblak.
Despite having a stellar first half, Slovenia missed two prime opportunities to score, with Timi Elsnik and Benjamin Sesko both narrowly missing. Serbia managed to spring back into action shortly before the end of the first half, which concluded without a point on the scoreboard for either side.
With the onset of the second half, Serbia returned with renewed vigour but fell short in their attempts at goal. Slovenia’s Sesko relieved some pressure with a shot that was excellently saved by Rajkovic, yet Serbia continued to threaten offensively.
The 68th minute saw the game taking an unexpected turn when Karnicnik scored the maiden goal of the match for Slovenia. However, Serbia retaliated, and a combination of Karnicnik’s deflection onto the crossbar and Jovic’s decisive goal at the stroke of the final whistle resulted in a tie to finish the match.
Ultimately, it was Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, a substitute, who missed a header. However, as time progressed into the added fifth minute, another substitute, Jovic, secured a level score by heading in a brilliantly executed corner kick from Ivan Ilic.