Gibraltar U19 suffer defeat against Bulgaria

Gibraltar’s Under-19 national team suffered a 6-0 defeat against Bulgaria in their opening match of the UEFA European Under-19 Championship qualifying round in Stara Zagora on Wednesday.

Bulgaria made a strong start to the encounter, taking the lead after just 10 minutes through Emiliyan Gogev. The forward doubled the advantage eight minutes later, putting Gibraltar on the back foot early in the match.

Aleks Tunchev added a third in the 25th minute, with Gogev completing his hat-trick in the 36th minute as Bulgaria established a commanding 4-0 lead before the interval.

Gibraltar faced an uphill task in the second half, with Bulgaria continuing to control the encounter. Daniel Manolev extended the lead in the 63rd minute before Kristiyan Goryanov added a sixth in the 79th minute to complete the scoring.

The result gives Bulgaria an opening victory in Group B4, while Gibraltar will look to respond in their next fixture against Moldova on Saturday.

The qualifying group also includes Latvia, with the seven League B group winners progressing to League A for the next qualifying round.