Birmingham 3 Nacional 0
Friday 26th August 2011, 12:30AM BST.
Birmingham romped to a resounding win in their first European home game for nearly 50 years.
Blues beat Portuguese top flight side Nacional at St Andrew’s to book their place in the group stages of the Europa League.
Goals from Nathan Redmond, David Murphy and Chris Wood propelled Blues to a historic aggregate victory, in front of a sell-out crowd of more than 27,000.
After a goalless draw in the first leg of the play-off tie a week ago, Blues seized control of the second leg tie just 15 minutes in from Nathan Redmond’s superb long range drive, the teenager’s first goal for the club.
Things got even better for the home supporters nine minutes later, when Murphy headed home off the bar from Jean Beausejour’s corner kick to double their advantage.
It could have been a far nervier evening if Nacional had taken advantage of some early defensive lapses.
But, once they fell behind, the visitors rarely threatened.
Chris Burke also saw an effort cleared off the line before half-time, as Blues completed a dominant first 45 minutes.
The pace dropped in the second-half but Redmond, a life long Blues fan, could have added a second when he cut inside from the left.
But the 17-year old saw a curling effort cannon back off the far post, with Nacional keeper Ellison beaten.
Adam Rooney and Wood both missed strong chances to kill the game off late in the second-half, but the latter finally found the net four minutes from time to complete a fine win for the home side.
It was a fitting result for a Blues team which hit the woodwork three times during last week’s first leg at the Estadio Da Madeira.
Blues can now look forward to tomorrow’s draw for the group stage, which takes place at 12pm in Monaco.
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