In the final qualifying game for UEFA EURO 2024 to be held in Germany next June/July, Luxembourg played their final Group J match away to Liechtenstein on Sunday evening at the Rheinpark Stadion in Vaduz.
Luxembourg made four changes to the team that had recorded a convincing 4-1 home win over Bosnia and Herzegovina last Thursday at the Stade de Luxembourg, mainly due to injuries. Around 500 supporters travelled to watch the game live at the 5,800 capacity stadium, similar in many ways to Luxembourg's former home of the Stade Josy Barthel.
Within five minutes of the kick-off, the visitors were down to ten men after the referee, Stéphanie Frappart, sent off Luxembourg's Danel Sinani for a foul on Liechtenstein's Julien Hasler (who was forced off a couple of minutes later), which went to VAR. Shortly afterwards, Liechtenstein's Sandro Wieser picked up a yellow card.
Both teams were playing attacking football, with a number of chances for both teams, but the first half stayed goalless, even after four minutes of added time being played. However, there was time for Luxembourg to receive a yellow card, with Luc Holtz the culprit.
In the second half, Luxembourg started the stronger, but could not find a way through the home team's defence. With just over half an hour to go, the Red Lions made two substitutions, with Florian Bohnert and Enes Mahmutovic both entering the fray. A couple of minutes later, Liechtenstein did the same, bringing on two pairs of fresh legs.
With just over 20 minutes left to play, Andrea Malin of Liechtenstein was the next to be booked after a foul on substitute Florian Bohnert. From the ensuing free kick taken by Maxime Chanot, Bohnert laid the ball on for Gerson Rodrigues to open the scoring.
Liechtenstein's Livio Meier was subsequently booked; Edvin Muratovic came on for Luxembourg with fifteen minutes of normal time remaining. Both teams were pressing forward, Liechtenstein seeking an equaliser and Luxembourg to extend their lead. Eight minutes of added time were confirmed, but the score remained the same.
Luxembourg held out for a 0-1 away win to finish the qualifying campaign in a very creditable third place (out of six) with seventeen points from ten games. The only blot on their copybook was their inferior goal difference of -6, thanks predominantly to their heavy away defeat to Portugal earlier in the autumn.
Despite being down to ten men for the majority of the game, Luxembourg had 56% possession and nine shots on goal, compared to the home team's six.
The Red Lions will expect to qualify for the play-offs in March 2024 in which twelve teams (from the Nations League, a significant difference from previous tournaments when the top third-placed teams from the qualifiers played off) will play semi-finals and finals to see which three teams will join the 20 automatic qualifies from the ten groups, and the host nation, Germany, in the tournament that will take place from 14 June to 14 July 2024. Currently, those teams are Poland, Wales, Israel, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Finland, Ukraine, Iceland, Georgia, Greece, Kazakhstan, Luxembourg and Estonia; however, it does depend on which teams qualify after the last matches on Tuesday evening.
Luxembourg: Anthony Moris (GK); Dirk Carlson; Seid Korac; Maxime Chanot; Vincent Thill; Mathias Olesen; Leandro Barreiro; Laurent Jans (C); Sébastien Thill; Danel Sinani; Gerson Rodriguez.
