Finland began the evening in third place, trailing Belarus on goal difference and two points shy of Albania, who looked to assert that authority early on as Qazim Laci’s effort flashed past the post.
After a quiet opening, Finland captain Lukas Hradecky was called upon twice in as many minutes to prevent the hosts from opening the scoring, saving well from Ernest Muci before impressively diving low to his right to deny Albania’s in-form Kristjan Asllani’s drive from inside the box.
Rolando Moran’s side continued to dominate possession, with Asllani renewing his personal duel with Hradecky after another good effort was repelled. There was a feeling that it would take something special to beat the veteran shot-stopper, and Muci provided just that after 35 minutes.
After a spell of pressure, a clearance fell to the midfielder inside the penalty area, who used his first touch to set up a wonderful volley with his second that flew into the top corner, leaving Hradecky a spectator.
Finland should have equalised against the run of play with half-time approaching when Miro Tenho headed straight at Etrit Berisha from six yards out before Leo Walta flashed an effort wide moments later.
Finland took that momentum into the second half, and Benjamin Kallman had a great chance to level the game less than three minutes after the restart as he stooped to meet a cross after great work from Topi Keskinen, but he sent his header narrowly over the bar.
That miss proved costly as Albania doubled their lead in their very next attack, with Rey Manaj succeeding where Kallman failed. The striker scored his third goal in four UNL matches as he rose between two defenders to head Elseid Hysaj’s inswinging cross into the bottom corner.
Manaj had the chance to make it 3-0 with a turn-and-shot inside the box just after, only for Hradecky to tip the forward’s drive round the post before Finland’s frustration boiled over when they were reduced to 10 men after Tenho saw red for a poor high-studs challenge on Muci as the home side broke away.
Despite having a man less, Finland missed the chance to set up a frantic finale as substitute Anssi Suhonen ghosted in at the far post but couldn’t get proper contact and the ball bobbled agonisingly wide, allowing Albania to close out a 2-0 win.
Belarus got an expected three points away at San Marino, and thanks to a superior head-to-head record over Huuhkajat, are guaranteed to finish above them in the group. Therefore, Finland are destined to finish third and remain in League C for the next Nations League cycle.
Albania will now go into Sunday’s tie against Belarus in Budapest in a strong position to secure automatic promotion to League B. Finland end their disappointing campaign at home to San Marino, having not scored from open play since these sides met on matchday one.
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