Bratislava's championship celebrations spoiled by Zilina after Slovak Fortuna Liga restart

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BRATISLAVA, June 15 (Xinhua) -- The Slovak premier football league Fortuna Liga kicked off again over the weekend after a 98-day pause caused by the coronavirus outbreak.

The local public health authorities gave the green light to sporting events after the situation in Slovakia stabilized in June but still limit the overall number of people at stadiums to a mere 500 (this will be raised to 1,000 in July), upsetting the football clubs as they are cut off from vital income from ticket sales.

With only five rounds left to play in the final stage of the season (shortened from 10 rounds due to the long pause), Slovan Bratislava Sports Club was leading the league table with 10 points on second Zilina.

The team from the country's capital made a significant step toward winning the title by defeating sixth-placed Ruzomberok 1-0.

The only goal of the match was scored by the substitute Slovenian striker Zan Medved in the 89th minute who capitalized on a rebound after a long-range shot by Bratislava's latest addition, Vladimir Weiss.

Weiss, a member of Slovakia's national team who has spent his whole career abroad, spiced up his Fortuna Liga debut with the vital assist.

If second-ranked Zilina lost its Sunday fixture against Trnava, Bratislava would gain a deciding lead in the rankings and would be crowned champion four rounds in advance.

But Zilina didn't allow the celebrations to erupt yet, defeating Trnava 2-1.

Next weekend, Bratislava will get another chance to seal the championship title, this time in a direct clash against their rival Zilina.

With the championship battle almost decided, the attention shifts to the fight for the second and third place in the rankings which secure spots in the qualification stage of the Europa League.

Third-ranked Dunajska Streda made a significant step towards keeping its favorable position in the table, crushing Michalovce 5-0. The Croatian striker Marko Divkovic scored a hat-trick and helped the home team's new German coach Bernd Storck celebrate his debut with a victory.

In the lower half of the league, the remaining six teams battle relegation. After the end of the season, the last-ranked team will be relegated to the second division and the penultimate team will battle it out with the winner of the second division for a spot in next year's edition of Fortuna Liga.

At this moment, Pohronie Football Club is the bottom-ranked team with 16 points, losing in top-ranked Trencin 0-4 over the weekend.

Nitra Football Club is in trouble, too, leading Pohronie by only three points after failing to secure more in a local derby-match against Zlate Moravce. The visitors started off better, scoring the opener in the 12th minute but Zlate Moravce answered by two of their own and fortified their second rank in the bottom half of the league.

Senica and Sered, two teams from the middle section of the rankings split points after a 1-1 draw, keeping their distance from the struggling teams of Nitra and Pohronie by four and five points respectively. Enditem

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