Milinković strike seals Serbia's place

Serbia booked their place in the 2009 UEFA European Under-21 Championship with a 1-0 victory against Denmark in Belgrade to advance 2-0 on aggregate.

Sweden beckons
The tie turned decisively Serbia's way three minutes before the interval when Kasper Schmeichel was sent off for a professional foul outside his area. Slobodan Krcmarević's side made sure of their ticket for next summer's final tournament in Sweden when Marko Milinković broke the deadlock with 16 minutes to play.

Serbia press
Serbia had won a remarkable play-off against Sweden to reach the 2007 finals – recovering from losing the home leg 3-0 to progress 5-3 on aggregate – and after winning 1-0 in Aalborg on Saturday they were determined that there would be no such heroics from Denmark. They dominated from the outset with Schmeichel pulling off a series of saves to keep Denmark in contention. On the one occasion he was beaten, Michael Jakobsen was on hand to clear off the line.

Milinković winner
Schmeichel's good work was undone on 42 minutes, however, when he was dismissed. Lasse Heinze took over in goal after replacing Mike Jensen, but though Keld Bordinggaard's side got to half-time unscathed, they were unable to stem the flow of Serbian attacks for long. Serbia, who made it to the final in their first tournament as an independent nation in the Netherlands last year, stepped up the pressure with Heinze soon being called into action. At the other end substitute Brian Nielsen shot narrowly wide when well-placed, yet that was temporary relief to the Serbian pressure. The hosts duly went ahead on 74 minutes when Milinković was sent clear and calmly slotted the ball past Heinze to confirm Serbia's place in Sweden.