Canada’s Milan Borjan was in the middle of attention last night. The goalkeeper of the Canadian national team was the key figure in Red Star Belgrade’s 2-2 draw against the Swiss champions Young Boys. The match in Bern was the first leg of the Champions League qualifiers.
Borjan, 31, was the man of the match. He saved the Serbian and the former World champions on numerous occasions, with fantastic interventions. Young Boys had 26 goal attempts, seven on target, but the Canadian stopped 5 of them. Unfortunately, in two situations, he couldn’t do anything. One of those two was a penalty.
“They had a lot of chances,” said Borjan. “I work for the team like everybody else, everything in my power. We defended good, and I need to keep a clean sheet in the rematch.”
The Swiss team reached the lead first after only 7 minutes of play when Roger Assale scored. After that, the home team had at least three chances to double the lead, but Borjan showed why he is the No.1 goalkeeper in the Canadian national team. He made some unreal saves, killing the morale of Young Boys, and shifting the momentum to the Red Star’s side.
Soon enough, the guests from Belgrade turned the result upside down and had a 1-2 lead. Milos Degenek, the Australian international leveled the score, and after that, Mateo Ezequiel Garcia gave the edge to the guests.
But some 15 minutes before the end, after one tackle in Red Star’s box, the referee watched VAR replay, and awarded the penalty kick for the hosts.
Unlike FC Copenhagen, Borjan couldn’t do anything and Guillaume Hoarau set the final result. This is an excellent position for the Serbian team to reach the group stage of the Champions League once again. Last year, they played in a group with Liverpool, PSG, and Napoli, and Borjan was one of the best, if not the best player of this crew.
Red Star eliminated FC Copenhagen in the previous stage of the qualifiers after the penalty shootout in which Borjan had a central role. He saved three penalties, one of them a decisive in the 12th round of the shootout.
All this isn’t important for Borjan, who thinks only of the rematch and the UCL group stage.
“We have 90 more minutes to play, and anything can happen. I believe in my team, we will be prepared, and I hope for the best. I wish to reach the Champions League in front of our fans.”
Borjan was the member of the Canadian national team since 2011 when he debuted against Greece in a 1-0 loss. Since then he played 45 matches for the national team and established himself as the no.1 goalkeeper.
He participated at the latest Gold Cup, starting all four games. Team Canada reached the quarterfinals where they lost against Haiti. It was the biggest sensation of the tournament, and to make it even worse, the Canadian team had a 2-0 advantage at the halftime.
Borjan’s and the Red Star’s rematch against Young Boys is on Tuesday, August 27.
