Print

Mail

wiki links

Celtic in final round of qualifying play

Celtic's Momo Sylla, left, is challenged FBK Kaunas's Badas Papeckys during their Champions League qualifying match at Parkhead Stadium Glasgow, Scotland, Wednesday. PHOTO: AP

Last season's UEFA Cup finalist Celtic Glasgow advanced to the final round of Champions League qualifying with a 1-0 victory over FBK Kaunas of Lithuania on Wednesday.

Also through to the third qualifying round of Europe's premier club soccer competition are Belgium's Anderlecht, Norway's Rosenborg and the Czech Republic's Slavia Prague.

An own goal by Darius Gvildys in the 21st minute handed Celtic the win in a second qualifying round game and gave the Scottish club a 5-0 overall triumph.

Runner up to FC Porto in last season's UEFA Cup, Celtic will next meet MTK Hungaria, which ousted Finland's HJK Helsinki on a 3-2 aggregate score.

Celtic was ousted in last year's Champions League qualifying by Switzerland's Basel.

In Brussels, South Korean international Seol Ki-hyeon completed a stunning comeback to lead Anderlecht to a 3-2 win over Rapid Bucharest following a goalles draw last week in the Romanian capital.

Anderlecht trailed 2-0 at half-time before goals from Nenad Jestrovic and Swedish veteran Par Zetterberg brought Belgium's most famous team back just minutes into the second half.

In the 73rd minute, winger Seol rose unmarked to meet a corner kick from Zetterberg and headed past Ibrahim Dossey to push Anderlecht into a third qualifying round match against Wisla Krakow.

In Trondheim, Rosenborg took a big step toward a record ninth straight Champions League spot by blanking Bohemians of Ireland 4-0 for a 5-0 aggregate score. The Norwegian champion next faces Deportivo La Coruna.

In Prague, Czech vice-champion Slavia Prague beat Bosnia's Leotar Trebinje 2-0 for a comfortable 4-1 overall triumph. The Czechs take on Celta Vigo.

In Skopje, Macedonian champion Vardar held Russian league leader CSKA Moscow to a 1-1 draw to advance to the third qualifying round for the first time.

The Macedonian champion had stunned CSKA with a 2-1 win in Moscow last week and held the ambitious Russian team at bay for most of the second leg.

CSKA dominated the first half and opened the scoring through Spartak Gogniev in the 31st minute. But Brazilian striker Oliveira Dos Santos headed in the equalizer in the 65th minute.

In other matches:

Grazer AK (Austria) 2, SK Tirana (Albania) 1 (Grazer AK advances 7-2).
This story has been viewed 1508 times.