Lithuania’s FBK Kaunas will play last season’s UEFA Cup runners-up Rangers in the Champions League second qualifying round after beating Santa Coloma of Andorra on Tuesday.
Kaunas, who named Portuguese Jose Couceiro as coach last week, triumphed 7-2 on aggregate after winning 3-1 at home in the first qualifying round, second-leg tie having romped to a 4-1 victory in last week’s first game.
Baltic rivals Ventspils of Latvia are also through after overhauling a 1-0 first leg deficit to beat Welsh champions Llanelli 4-1 on aggregate.
Forward Vits Rimkus scored twice in a 4-0 home win to seal a trip to Norway’s Brann Bergen next week when the first legs take place in the already-drawn second qualifying round.
Moldovans Sheriff were also big winners at home, overpowering Kazakhstan champions Aktobe 4-0 to secure a 4-1 aggregate victory and a meeting with second qualifying round entrants Sparta Prague.
Azerbaijan’s FC Baku drew 1-1 at Macedonian side Rabotnicki to progress on away goals following last week’s goalless draw and will now play Serbian champions Partizan Belgrade.
Dinamo Tbilisi suffered a 1-0 defeat to Runavik in the Faroe Islands but the Georgians progressed 3-1 overall and travel to Greece’s Panathinaikos next week.
The remaining nine first qualifying round second legs took place yesterday.
Past Champions League winners FC Barcelona, Juventus and Liverpool find out next week who they must beat in a qualifying round to reach this year’s group stage.
UEFA will hold an Aug. 1 draw for the third and final qualifying round that will decide which 16 teams join the 16 elite clubs already entered into the lucrative competition.
Five-time champions Liverpool and 2006 finalists Arsenal join the draw knowing that each of the four English clubs in the group stage last season earned at least 16 million euros (US$25 million) in appearance money and a share of television rights deals. Additional prize money is given for winning and drawing matches.
Juventus return to the competition after a two-year absence because of a bribery scandal and are also hoping for a share of the millions at stake.
Losers in the third qualifying round are entered into the UEFA Cup, where last season’s winners Zenit St Petersburg earned less than 5 million euros.
The draw is held before the second qualifying round finishes on Aug. 6.
The third qualifying round is played Aug. 12 and Aug. 27.
The draw for the UEFA Cup second qualifying round also takes place at Nyon, Switzerland, on Aug. 1.
Bologna on Thursday advanced past Empoli to reach their first Coppa Italia final in more than half a century. Thijs Dallinga’s 87th-minute header earned Bologna a 2-1 win and his side advanced 5-1 on aggregate. Giovanni Fabbian opened the scoring for Bologna with a header seven minutes in. Then Viktor Kovalenko equalized for Empoli in the 30th minute by turning in a rebound to finish off a counterattack. Bologna won the first leg 3-0. In the May 14 final in Rome, Bologna are to face AC Milan, who eliminated city rivals Inter 4-1 on aggregate following a 3-0 win on Wednesday. Bologna last reached the
If the Wild finally break through and win their first playoff series in a decade, Minnesota’s top line likely will be the reason. They were all over the Golden Knights through the first two games of their NHL Western Conference quarter-finals series, which was 1-1 going back to Minnesota for Game 3 today. The Wild tied the series with a 5-2 win on Tuesday. Matt Boldy had three goals and an assist in the first two games, while Kirill Kaprizov produced two goals and three assists. Joel Eriksson Ek, who centers the line, has yet to get on the scoresheet. “I think the biggest
From a commemorative jersey to a stadium in his name, Argentine soccer organizers are planning a slew of tributes to their late “Captain” Pope Francis, eulogized as the ultimate team player. Tributes to the Argentine pontiff, a lifelong lover of the game, who died on Monday at the age of 88, have been peppered with soccer metaphors in his homeland. “Francisco. What a player,” the Argentine Football Federation (AFA) said, describing the first pope from Latin America and the southern hemisphere as a generational talent who “never hogged the ball” and who showed the world “the importance of having an Argentine captain,
Noelvi Marte on Sunday had seven RBIs and hit his first career grand slam with a drive off infielder Jorge Mateo, while Austin Wynn had a career-high six RBIs as the Cincinnati Reds scored their most runs in 26 years in a 24-2 rout of the Baltimore Orioles. Marte finished with five hits, including his eighth-inning homer off Mateo. Wynn hit a three-run homer in the ninth off catcher Gary Sanchez. Cincinnati scored its most runs since a 24-12 win against the Colorado Rockies on May 19, 1999, and finished with 25 hits. Baltimore allowed its most runs since a 30-3 loss to
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