Football: Iberia Tbilisi defeat Larne to secure European group stage qualification #1TVSPORT

Iberia Tbilisi defeated Northern Irish side Larne 2–1 in the second leg of their UEFA Europa League third qualifying round tie, securing their place in the main stage of a European competition, the UEFA Conference League.

The Georgian champion had played out a 0–0 draw in the away leg against the Northern Irish club. Vakho Bedoshvili, who missed the first leg through injury, returned to the starting XI for the crucial return fixture. Nearly 17,000 supporters packed into the Mikheil Meskhi Stadium to witness a hard-fought encounter.

Iberia played with caution, maintaining defensive discipline while carving out opportunities, and eventually broke the deadlock in the 74th minute when Vakho Bedoshvili found the net. However, the visitors restored parity just two minutes later through a strike from Simpson.

With the tie level, the match proceeded into extra time, where the Georgian champion regained the lead in the 102nd minute as Nika Sikharulashvili converted a pass from Andria Bartishvili.

This victory sees Iberia advance to the UEFA Europa League play-off round while simultaneously guaranteeing them a spot in the main phase of the Conference League. A Georgian club last reached the main stage of a UEFA club competition in 2004, when Dinamo Tbilisi competed in the UEFA Cup group stage.

In the Europa League play-offs, Iberia will face the winners of the tie between Polish side Jagiellonia and Scottish giants Rangers.