Champions League/Red Star Belgrade 3 Cork City 0 (Red Star win 4-0 agg): Red Star Belgrade side gave Cork City an object lesson in top-class football in Belgrade last night when they cruised to an aggregate 4-0 victory in the Champions League second round, second leg, qualifier.
Whatever hopes the Irish champions may have harboured that they could give the Serbs a run for their money after a luckless 1-0 defeat in Cork last week were dashed in just over two minutes.
Highly-rated striker Nikola Zigic, so unimpressive in Cork seven days previously, provided the conduit for the opening goal when his cushioned header fell to Dejan Milovanovic, whose 30-yard volley gave City goalkeeper Michael Devine no chance.
Cork's pre-match plan of trying to keep the tie goalless for half an hour and playing on the counter-attack had vanished.
Now 2-0 up in the tie on aggregate, Red Star were in the position their large gathering of fans wanted and from there on in were prepared to be patient. After 15 minutes their fans were waving white handkerchiefs at the opposition in a prolonged show of defiance - they knew they had the match won.
Cork had both Alan Bennett and Roy O'Donovan booked and their frailties were exposed again on 33 minutes when a Marko Perovic cross was missed by both Devine and Bojan Jokic and fell finally to the unmarked Zigic who headed home for a 2-0 lead on the night.
Into the second half and it was Zigic who killed Cork off in the 59th minute when, again unmarked, he stole in at the back post to power home Dusan Basta's pinpoint cross.
Bennett had Cork's best chance in the 85th minute when his header from Neale Fenn's corner came off the crossbar.
It would have been small consolation for Cork, however, as Red Star were well worth their victory and go on to face AC Milan in the next stage of the competition next week.
Afterwards Cork City manager Damian Richardson said that the early goal had been his side's undoing on the night.
"We had hoped to keep them at bay for at least half an hour or so, but when they scored so early there was really no coming back into it," he said. "Credit to Red Star, they were very clinical on the night and they were worthy winners."
RED STAR BELGRADE: Randjelovic, Pantic, Bisevac, Joksimovic, Perovic (Milijas 78), Basta, Kovacevic, Milovanovic, Blagoy Georgiev, Djokic (Jankovic 69), Zigic (Purovic 63). Subs Not Used: Radivojevic, Trajkovic, Tutoric, Tadeu. Goals: Milovanovic 2, Zigic 34, 59.
CORK CITY: Devine, Bennett, Brian O'Callaghan, O'Brien, Fenn, Woods, O'Donovan, Cillian Lordan, Softic, Behan (Sullivan 80), Horgan. Subs Not Used: McNulty, O'Flynn, Lally, McCarthy, Cathal Lordan, Nolan. Booked: Bennett, O'Donovan.
Referee: Knut Kircher (Germany).
