Slovenian football champions Celje conceded to heavily favoured Italian side Fiorentina in the quarter-finals of the UEFA Conference League, but they left the pitch in high spirits as the first Slovenian club to make the quarter-finals of a major European competition.

The Slovenian side held Fiorentina to a 2:2 draw in Florence on 17 April, putting the aggregate score in two legs at 4:3.

Despite being heavily favoured, the club from Tuscany had to work hard at Artemio Franchi Stadium in front of some 20,000 spectators to beat Celje and advance to the final four of the third-tier European club competition.

It was Rolando Mandragora who scored for the home side in the 37th minute to enable Fiorentina to go to the break leading 1:0, putting Celje in a two-goal hole.

The Slovenian club was not discouraged as they were cheered on by some 300 fans in Florence, and in the 54th minute Aljoša Matko brought them back to life with a nice cut behind the defence after which he beat the goalie to even the score at 1:1.

Celje kept pushing and harassing Fiorentina's defence, and this paid off in the 65th minute, when Klemen Nemanič scored a header after a corner kick to give the Slovenian club a 2:1 lead and even the aggregate score to 3:3.

But only a couple of minutes later Moise Kean delighted the home fans by penetrating into the box from the left and putting home a precise diagonal shot, to secure the overall win for Fiorentina and qualification to the semi-finals.

Celje head coach Albert Riera regretted that his team had a bad start in the first half. "We knew it wouldn't be like in Celje, Fiorentina had the fans on their side, and we should have forced them to suffer early, but we failed."

He nevertheless congratulated his team and said that the players have done a great job in an exceptional match. "A great 180 minutes are behind us. And this was against Fiorentina, which is a much bigger club than we are," he added.

"I'm happy with the quarter-finals. This is a huge thing for Celje, for the country. If we made it once, why wouldn't we make it again," Riera concluded.