Everyone loves a good hero. Jasmin Handanović was that hero on Tuesday night for NK Maribor in a Champions League playoff against Hapoel Be’er.
Holding on to a slender aggregate lead on away goals in the 90th minute, the Maribor goalkeeper came up with an incredible sprawling save to keep his team ahead.
Handanović, cousin of Inter Milan’s Samir Handanović, had to reverse his momentum, dive the other way and put out a paw to push away the shot in a fraction of a second to keep his team in front.
Maribor held on for a 1-0 victory on the night, 2-2 on aggregate against its Israeli opponent. Our only regret is the loss of a club with “beer” in its name.
The Slovenian club went ahead in the 15th minute through a stunning strike from Mitja Viler.
1-0! @MitjaViler1 scores his ninth goal for Maribor! #MARHAP #UCL pic.twitter.com/dZ1wknndPn
— NK Maribor (English) (@nkmaribor_en) August 22, 2017
Handanović did the rest and now Maribor will be drawn into the group stage of the Champions League for the third time in club history. The draw is Thursday.
Maribor will be joined in the group stage by Tuesday qualifiers Celtic, Olympiakos, Sevilla and Napoli.
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