Emre Mor hands NEC Nijmegen maiden Champions League win after extra time

[p]Following the 0-0 draw in [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/olympiacos-piraeus/hnzvnHPS/"]Piraeus[/a], [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/nijmegen/nRluRF0T/"]NEC[/a] were initially deemed the favourites but were beaten 2-1 by lowly [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/telstar/Aw0qTPat/"]Telstar[/a] at home last weekend. [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/olympiacos-piraeus/hnzvnHPS/"]Olympiacos[/a], meanwhile, had a week's rest with the Greek Super League not starting until Saturday, August 22nd.[/p][p]NEC were the slightly better team in the opening 30 minutes, but both teams were hit with injury issues early - Olympiacos forward [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/jota-ii/MklkHcIh/"]Jota Silva[/a] was forced to retire with a hamstring injury, while NEC's [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/ouaissa-sami/UsLzacGG/"]Sami Ouaissa[/a] and [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/sandler-philippe/xl7uWIIM/"]Philippe Sandler[/a] were unable to continue.[/p][p][b]After a passive first half, poor defending from NEC cost them dearly in the first minute of the second half, with [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/el-kaabi-ayoub/6RewslBm/"]Ayoub El Kaabi[/a] tapping in a rebound to give the Greeks the upper hand.[/b][/p][p]It took over an hour for NEC to show real signs of life, with [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/mor-emre/Kd02fMXo/"]Emre Mor[/a] testing [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/popovic-balsa/xxi2Qq7t/"]Balsa Popovic[/a] from distance a minute before [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/linssen-brian/hxOWVXZo/"]Bryan Linssen[/a] nearly beat Popovic from up close, with the Montenegrin stopper keeping NEC goalless with his feet.[/p][embed guid="9e7b3a13-137d-40bf-8191-075ae54e6fff" url="https://x.com/necnijmegen/status/2087254024730873956?s=20" social-type="twitter" /][p][b]It was the 35-year-old Linssen who made the Goffertstadion erupt, converting on a sublime [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/tadic-dusan/Ic4oPYSF/"]Dusan Tadic[/a] cross to score NEC's first-ever UEFA Champions League goal.[/b][/p][p]NEC's momentum continued when Olympiacos were shown a red card - [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/fortounis-konstantinos/WIPOXg1o/"]Konstantinos Fortounis[/a] planted his studs on the ankle of Darko Nejasmic, prompting referee Maurizio Mariani to change the yellow into a red card and leave the Greeks down a man for the last 10 minutes and potentially extra time.[/p][embed guid="307207fc-51ba-4008-a25e-f4cb9208bdc1" url="https://x.com/necnijmegen/status/2087263378133651835?s=20" social-type="twitter" /][p]Substitute [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/sierhuis-kaj/MV5tWRC5/"]Kaj Sierhuis[/a] set Nijmegen momentarily alight with a 93rd-minute goal, heading in a sharp cross from Emre Mor. The Turkish former wunderkind was eventually the reason the goal was cancelled, with Mor standing centimetres offside in the build-up to the goal.[/p][p][b]An emotional Mor vindicated himself five minutes into extra time, thumping the ball into Popovic's goal to send Nijmegen into a frenzy and give his side the lead after all.[/b][/p][p]NEC kept up the pressure following Mor's goal, with youngster Kevin Kers coming closest to a game-sealing goal. The energy was flowing out of Olympiacos, who were no longer able to put up a valiant fight with minutes to go before the full-time whistle.[/p][p]Emre Mor's extra-time goal wrote history for NEC, who captured their first UEFA Champions League win in club history. In the play-offs for the League Phase of the UEFA Champions League, NEC will face last season's surprise package [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/bodo-glimt/S0WZMUNG/"]Bodo/Glimt[/a] from Norway.[/p][p][b][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/game/soccer/nijmegen-nRluRF0T/olympiacos-piraeus-hnzvnHPS/?mid=8G3qc5S6"]Check out the full match statistics on Flashscore[/a][/b][/p][image alt="Key match stats" id="b27906b1-2bdb-4d45-a3b9-f42858d735f9" credit-line="Flashscore" guid="91cc1c05-3819-4d1c-a80b-92f99ab3a4c5" original-width="2160" original-height="2700" /]