Slovenia started the match at the Ljudski vrt stadium furiously in a bid to erase the 2:0 lead by Ukraine from the first leg played on Saturday in Lviv.

Powered by some 12,00 home fans, Slovenia scored early, with veteran defender Boštjan Cesar putting in a header from the point-blank range in the 11th minute to bring Slovenia only one goal away from equalising the aggregate score.

Slovenia continued attacking and had a number of excellent opportunities in the second half but the Ukrainians tightened up the defence and tried to score what would be a back-breaking goal from counter-attacks.

This came in the waning moments of the match, with Ukraine's forward Andriy Yarmolenko virtually walking into the Slovenian goal following Slovenia's last desperate attempt to score the second goal with the full squad put in front of the opponent's goal.

It was a sweet revenge for the Ukrainians as Slovenia was the team that eliminated them in the play-offs for the Euro 2000 to qualify for the European Football Championships for the first time in the nation's history.

Ukraine will meanwhile play their second European championship in France in 2016, after playing the tournament for the first time in 2012 as one of the two host nations. They also have one World Cup appearance, in 2006.