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Belarusians ease past Belgians

Liliano Roberto Antonello Juca of Partizan Belgrade celebrates scoring against Azerbaijan’s Inter Baku during their Champions League second qualifying round second leg match in Belgrade on Wednesday. PHOTO: AP

Unfancied Belarusian club BATE Borisov held 10-man Anderlecht to a 2-2 draw on Wednesday to reach the Champions League’s third qualifying round with a 4-3 aggregate victory.

BATE’s reward will be to face Bulgarian champions Levski Sofia for a berth in the lucrative group stage of the competition.

Gennady Bliznyuk fired BATE 1-0 ahead on the night but Lucas Biglia’s penalty levelled in the 23rd minute for the Belgians, who lost defender Nemanja Rnic to a 71st minute red card.

Vitali Rodionov restored BATE’s lead in the 83rd minute but the hosts endured a nervy finish after Jan Polak equalized three minutes later.

Cypriots Anorthosis Famagusta also delighted their fans although they had to survive a second half onslaught at Rapid Vienna in the return leg of their 4-3 aggregate success.

French midfielder Vincent Laban gave Anorthosis a 4-0 aggregate lead before a goal from Erwin Hoffer and a Stefan Maierhofer brace had them on the back foot in the closing stages. The Cypriots now face Greek champions Olympiakos Piraeus.

Ireland’s Drogheda United ended their European campaign with a creditable 2-2 draw at Dynamo Kiev that put the Ukrainian side through thanks to last week’s 2-1 win in Dublin.

Dynamo now face former Soviet Union first division rivals Spartak Moscow in an intriguing eastern European clash.

Swiss champions Basel twice came from behind to beat Sweden’s Gothenburg 4-2 and win the tie 5-3 on aggregate thanks to two late goals by Serbian midfielder Ivan Ergic.

Slovakia’s Artmedia Petrzalka brushed aside Finland’s Tampere United 4-2 for a 7-3 overall victory but they now face an uphill task against Juventus in the third round.

Fenerbahce strolled to a 7-0 aggregate rout of MTK Budapest and a meeting with Serbian champions Partizan Belgrade, who were 3-1 aggregate winners over Azerbaijan’s Inter Baku.

Polish champions Wisla Krakow earned a clash with 2006 winners Barcelona after a 5-0 drubbing of Beitar Jerusalem allowed them to overturn a 2-1 first-leg deficit.

In other ties Bosnians FK Modrica lost 1-2 at home to Aalborg as the Danes won 7-1 on aggregate and Panathinaikos of Greece earned a 0-0 draw with Dinamo Tbilisi in Georgia to win 3-0 on aggregate.

On Tuesday FBK Kaunas beat Rangers 2-1 in Lithuania to go through 2-1 on aggregate.

Latvians FK Ventspils and Norwegian side Brann Bergen drew 2-2 with Brann progressing on away goals.
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