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.
Shohei Ohtani and Clayton Kershaw on Friday joined their Los Angeles Dodgers teammates in sticking their fists out to show off their glittering World Series rings at a ceremony. “There’s just a lot of excitement, probably more than I can ever recall with the Dodger fan base and our players,” manager Dave Roberts said before Los Angeles rallied to beat the Detroit Tigers 8-5 in 10 innings. “What a way to cap off the first two days of celebrations,” Roberts said afterward. “By far the best opening week I’ve ever experienced. I just couldn’t have scripted it any better.” A choir in the
After fleeing Sudan when civil war erupted, Al-Hilal captain Mohamed Abdelrahman and his teammates have defied the odds to reach the CAF Champions League quarter-finals. They are today to face title-holders Al-Ahly of Egypt in Cairo, with the return match in the Mauritanian capital, Nouakchott, on Tuesday next week. Al-Hilal and biggest domestic rivals Al-Merrikh relocated to Mauritania after a power struggle broke out in April 2023 between the Sudanese army and a paramilitary force. The civil war has claimed tens of thousands of lives and displaced more than 12 million people, according to the UN. The Democratic Republic of the Congo-born Al-Hilal
Shohei Ohtani, Teoscar Hernandez and Tommy Edman on Thursday smashed home runs to give the reigning World Series champions the Los Angeles Dodgers a 5-4 victory over Detroit on the MLB’s opening day in the US. The Dodgers, who won two season-opening games in Tokyo last week, raised their championship banner on a day when 28 clubs launched the season in the US. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts shuffled his batting lineup with all four leadoff hitters finally healthy as Ohtani was followed by Mookie Betts, then Hernandez and Freddie Freeman in the cleanup spot, switching places with Hernandez. “There’s a Teoscar tax to
Matvei Michkov did not score on Monday, but the Philadelphia rookie had a hand in both goals as hosts the Flyers earned a 2-1 victory over the Nashville Predators. Ryan Poehling and Jamie Drysdale got the goals for the Flyers (31-36-9, 71 points), who won their third straight. Michkov and Travis Konecny assisted on both. Ivan Fedotov stopped 28 shots to earn his first win since March 1, ending a personal six-game losing streak. Zachary L’Heureux got the lone goal for Nashville. Michael McCarron and Brady Skjei got the assists for the Predators (27-39-8, 62 points), who have just four goals in their
RSS