Klavan Paide debut ends in Europa League home defeat
Top flight football team Paide Linnameeskond lost its first-leg Europa Conference League encounter with Polish side Śląsk Wrocław at home Thursday. The game was more notable as defender and ex-Liverpool man Ragnar Klavan's debut for Paide, following last week's announcement he would be joining the team from Serie A team Cagliari Calcio.
Klavan played the bulk of the match (71 minutes) and told ERR's sports portal afterwards that, despite the result against a team which finished fourth last season in the Ekstraklasa, Poland's top-flight football league, he was: "Happy to be back in Estonia, to return to where I started. I can't say anything more than that; everything is fine at the moment."
As to Thursday's game, Klavan, 35, from Viljandi, said Paide: "Has the content and the fighting spirit, and if you come fourth in the Polish premier league, you are likely to have quality and more. We had the hardest encounter from the Estonian clubs, watching it we definitely fought well and with dignity."
The first half, which was not played in the central Estonian town which is home to Paide Linnameeskond, but instead at Pärnu's Rannastaadion, was goalless, but striker Fabian Piasecki took the lead 67 minutes into the game, ERR's sports portal reports.
Żegnaj Parnawo! Kierunek Tartu pic.twitter.com/lxjJC5zAoH
— Estoński Futbol (@estonski_futbol) July 9, 2021
A Śląsk own goal evened things up at 77 minutes, and while the game look set to end in a draw, Hungarian defender Márk Tamás hit the net with a minute of regular time left to play.
The second leg takes place in Wrocław next week.
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Editor: Andrew Whyte
