Partizan Belgrade, Astana, Malmo and CSKA Moscow all pulled off impressive comebacks to reach the playoff round of the Champions League qualifiers on Wednesday.
Skenderbeu also qualified, putting themselves within two matches of becoming the first Albanian side to reach the group stage, after beating Milsami in another of the third round, second-leg ties.
Former European champions Celtic went through after grinding out a 0-0 draw against Qarabag in the sweltering heat of Azerbaijan.
Photo: AFP
CSKA hit back from two goals behind at Sparta Prague to win 3-2 and qualify 5-4 on aggregate against the demoralized Czechs, who had only needed a goalless draw to progress.
Russian international Alan Dzagoev scored the winner in the 76th minute after two goals from Ahmed Musa had hauled the Russians back into the match.
Astana, having drawn 0-0 in the first leg away to Helsinki, also fell two goals behind at home, but hit back to lead 3-2 before Patrick Twumasi, one of their goalscorers, was sent off in the 70th minute.
Erfan Zeneli converted an 86th-minute penalty to level at 3-3 and put the Finns ahead on away goals, only for Evgeniy Postnikov to score a stoppage-time winner for the Kazakh champions.
Serbian champions Partizan went through after a roller-coaster 4-2 home win over 10-man Steaua Bucharest gave them a 5-3 aggregate win over the 1986 European Cup winners.
Swedish champions Malmo needed only 14 minutes to cancel out a two-goal first leg deficit at home to Salzburg as goals from Nikola Djurdjic and Markus Rosenberg had the Austrian champions reeling.
Although the visitors took control, Vladimir Rodic pounced on a defensive blunder to score the third three minutes before halftime to give Malmo a 3-0 win and 3-2 on aggregate.
It was the eighth time in a row that Salzburg have gone out in the qualifying rounds since Red Bull took over the club in 2005.
Celtic went through 1-0 on aggregate while Skenderbeu’s 2-0 win over the Moldovan champions gave them a 4-0 aggregate win.
Shakhtar Donetsk brushed aside Fenerbahce 3-0 to qualify and Brugge beat Panathinaikos by the same score to win 4-2 on aggregate.
BATE Borisov, who beat Videoton 1-0 for a 2-1 aggregate win, Maccabi Tel Aviv and FC Basel also qualified.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
The lights dimmed and the crowd hushed as Karoline Kristensen entered for her performance. However, this was no ordinary Dutch theater: The temperature was 80°C and the audience naked apart from a towel. Dressed in a swimsuit and to the tune of emotional music, the 21-year-old Kristensen started her routine, performed inside a large sauna, with a bed of hot rocks in the middle. For a week this month, a group of wellness practitioners, called “sauna masters,” are gathering at a picturesque health resort in the Netherlands to compete in this year’s Aufguss world sauna championships. The practice takes its name from a
Japanese players are moving to English soccer in record numbers and more look set to follow with clubs attracted by their quality, strong work ethic and value for money. Kaoru Mitoma is the standout talent of five Japanese players in the English Premier League, with eight more in the Championship and two in League One. Liverpool midfielder Wataru Endo, the captain of Japan, believes his compatriots are “being held in higher esteem” by English clubs compared with the past. “The staff at Liverpool ask me about lots of Japanese players, not necessarily with a view to a transfer, but just saying this or
Taiwan yesterday survived Bosnia and Herzegovina to win their Davis Cup World Group I tie at the Taipei Tennis Center. The tight series started on Saturday with world No. 123 Jason Tseng losing 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 to Mirza Basic in the opening singles matchup. However, teammate Tony Wu kept the tie even, dominating world No. 86 Damir Dzumhur 6-2, 6-1. Yesterday, 24-year-old Ray Ho and partner 25-year-old Hsu Yu-hsiou kept up the momentum, making short work of Basic and Nerman Fatic, winning 6-3, 6-4. Tseng then suffered another defeat, losing 6-4, 2-6, 6-2 to Dzumhur in a brutal match that lasted more than two