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.
PHOTO: AP
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).
SSC Napoli’s Italian Serie A title hopes suffered a late setback on Sunday when they were held to a 2-2 draw at home against Genoa, setting up a thrilling season finale with closest rivals Inter just one point behind. The hosts remain top with 78 points, holding a slim lead over Inter, who won 2-0 at Torino earlier on Sunday, with two rounds remaining. To make matters worse for Napoli, midfielder Stanislav Lobotka, struggling with an ankle injury, was forced off just minutes after the match began. Scott McTominay delivered a perfect pass into the box where Romelu Lukaku got
A stunning Lamine Yamal strike on Thursday helped crown Barcelona La Liga champions with a 2-0 win over local rivals RCD Espanyol, with victory ensuring Real Madrid cannot catch them at the top of the table. Yamal’s effort and Fermin Lopez’s goal took Hansi Flick’s side seven points clear of Los Blancos with two matches remaining, to clinch Barcelona’s 28th title and complete a superb domestic treble. Only the UEFA Champions League title escaped an exciting young Barca side this season, as they won the league for the second time in six years, at Espanyol’s ground again just as in 2022-2023. Back then,
Jannik Sinner on Thursday marched into the semi-finals of the Italian Open after destroying Casper Ruud in straight sets 6-0, 6-1, while Coco Gauff won a marathon three-set battle with China’s Zheng Qinwen to advance to the women’s singles final. American Gauff is to face Italy’s Jasmine Paolini in today’s title match after pulling through 7-6 (7/3), 4-6, 7-6 (7/4) in a match that lasted over three-and-a-half hours. Ruud was supposed to be Sinner’s toughest test in Rome since he came back from his three-month doping ban, as the Norwegian came into the match in hot form on clay after winning in
Shohei Ohtani on Thursday delivered his first two-homer game of the season and had six RBIs as the Los Angeles Dodgers poured it on with five long balls in a 19-2 victory over the visiting Athletics. Max Muncy, Andy Pages and James Outman also hit home runs for the Dodgers, who left no doubt by taking a 13-2 lead following a seven-run third inning. Muncy and Kim Hye-seong each had three hits for Los Angeles. Dodgers right-hander Matt Sauer led off a bullpen game by allowing two runs in four innings. Left-hander Justin Wrobleski (1-1) finished with four scoreless innings after he