Malmö 1–2 Ludogorets: Swedes punished again from set-pieces

Malmö FF’s miserable run in european group stage football rumbled on as they slipped to a 2-1 home defeat against bulgarian champions Ludogorets Razgrad at Eleda Stadion. That’s now just one win in seventeen group stage outings (W1, D2, L14), a record that speaks volumes about the struggles of a club that once considered themselves a regular european name.

Things went wrong almost immediately. A Ludogorets corner looked at first to have been dealt with, but VAR picked up Gabriel Busanello grappling Edvin Kurtulus at the back post. After a lengthy pause and plenty of complaints from the home players, the referee pointed to the spot. Petar Stanić stayed calm and rolled the penalty into the bottom corner, sending Robin Olsen the wrong way and quieting the Malmö support after only ten minutes gone.

The swedes tried to compose themselves and did start to see plenty of the ball, Hugo Bolin looking bright out wide, but any momentum was killed by another set-piece disaster. Olsen came for a high ball and spilled it badly, gifting Yves Erick Bile the easiest of chances. The Ivorian striker smashed the loose ball into the roof of the net and suddenly the hosts were two down with barely half an hour played. Boos echoed around the stadium as Malmö’s defending looked soft and unorganised.

Just before the break, Bolin almost offered a lifeline when he wriggled through and got a shot away, but Sergio Padt stood tall and blocked with his knees. It summed up Malmö’s half – plenty of huffing and puffing, but no composure when it really mattered.

The second half began with the crowd urging their team forward, but Ludogorets continued to look the sharper side. Caio Vidal should have killed the contest on the hour when he burst clean through, only to tamely shoot at Olsen, and from the rebound Stanić was denied by a last-ditch block on the line from Colin Rösler. Malmö were living dangerously, and their body language suggested they knew it.

Then, out of the blue, they were back in it. Lasse Berg Johnsen let fly from outside the box, the shot taking a wicked deflection that left Padt stranded and suddenly the deficit was halved. With fifteen minutes to play the atmosphere changed completely, Malmö throwing numbers forward, Ludogorets retreating deeper. Bolin and Taha Ali both went close in the closing stages, but the equaliser never came, the visitors hanging on through a mixture of discipline and good fortune.

For Malmö, another night of frustration, another game where poor defending of set-pieces cost them dearly. For Ludogorets, a dream start on the road in a group stage campaign that already looks wide open. Ten points was enough to qualify last season – with three already in the bag from a tough away ground, the bulgarians will quietly fancy there chances of progressing.