AEK Athens and PAOK Thessaloniki gave Greek football fans plenty to cheer about as both clubs reached the Champions League play-off round and joined three former winners of Europe’s elite club competition on Tuesday.
AEK beat 1967 champions Celtic 2-1 in a fervent atmosphere in Athens for a 3-2 aggregate win over the Scottish side while PAOK held out for a 0-0 draw at Spartak Moscow after edging the Russian outfit 3-2 in the first leg.
Benfica, champions in 1961 and 1962, earned a 2-1 overall win over Fenerbahce after a 1-1 draw in Istanbul and four-time winners Ajax Amsterdam cruised to a 5-2 aggregate defeat of Standard Liege.
Red Star Belgrade, the 1991 champions, overpowered Spartak Trnava 2-1 away after extra time for a 3-2 overall victory over the Slovakian side who missed a penalty in the dying seconds.
Rodrigo Galo swept in a low cross from the right and Marko Livaja headed in the second for AEK before Scott Sinclair pulled one back for Celtic to set up a dramatic finish.
The outcome was a bitter blow for Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers while AEK will be relishing a two-legged clash with Hungarians Vidi FC for a berth in the lucrative group stage of the competition.
PAOK, who fought back from 2-0 down in the first leg against Spartak, were helped in the return leg when the home side’s striker Luiz Adriano was sent off in the 33rd minute for a foul on Jose Angel Crespo.
PAOK will face Benfica for a group stage berth, with the Portuguese giants tightening their grip when midfielder Gedson Fernandez fired them ahead in Istanbul before Alper Potuk equalised on the night.
Quickfire first-half goals by striker Klaas Jan Huntelaar and defender Matthijs de Ligt put Ajax firmly in control against Standard and David Neres added the icing on the cake with a third shortly after the break.
The Dutch side’s reward is an intriguing clash with Dynamo Kiev, who eliminated Slavia Prague 3-1 on aggregate after goals by Benjamin Verbic and Artem Besedin fired the Ukrainian side to a 2-0 home win over the Czechs.
Red Star fell behind to an early Marek Bakos header in Trnava but replied instantly through El Fardou Ben Nabouhane before Serbia winger Nemanja Radonjic sealed the contest with a superb finish into the top corner in the 98th minute.
Red Star, who have never qualified for the Champions League group stage, will meet Salzburg after the Austrian team strolled into the play-offs with a 4-0 defeat of Macedonians Shkendija.
Belarus champions BATE Borisov face PSV Eindhoven after a 2-1 aggregate win over Azerbaijan’s Qarabag while Dinamo Zagreb eased to a 3-0 overall rout of Kazakhs Astana for a clash with Young Boys Berne.
CHAMPIONS LEAGUE SUMMARIES
Dynamo Kyiv (1) 2
Scorers: B. Verbič 11, A. Besedin 74
Subs used: Shabanov 75 (Burda), Buyalskyy 88 (Shepelev),
Moroziuk 92 (Tsygankov)
Slavia Praha (0) 0
Yellow card: Hušbauer 38, Kovář 39, Bořil 86, Coufal 89,
Frydrych 94
Subs used: Băluță 68 (Zmrhal), Ņkoda 75 (Tecl), Frydrych 85
(Hušbauer)
Aggregate score: 3-1
………………………………………………………..
BATE (1) 1
Scorers: M. Ivanić 20
Yellow card: Scherbitski 93
Subs used: Hleb 70 (Baga), Skavysh 78 (Ivanić)
Qarabağ (0) 1
Scorers: Míchel 54
Yellow card: Emeghara 32, Qarayev 39, Slavchev 62, Emeghara
77 (2nd), Sadıqov 81
Subs used: Ozobić 77 (Slavchev), Delarge 85 (Medvedev)
Aggregate score: 2-1
………………………………………………………..
Spartak Moskva (0) 0
Red card: Luiz Adriano 33
Yellow card: Fernando 22, Dzhikiya 37, Zobnin 85
Subs used: Zé Luís 46 (Tashaev), Samedov 63 (Fernando),
Melgarejo 76 (Kombarov)
PAOK (0) 0
Yellow card: Léo Matos 25, Paschalakis 34, El Kaddouri 37
Subs used: Amr Warda 46 (El Kaddouri), Khacheridi 65
(Vieirinha), Shakhov 79 (Pelkas)
Aggregate score: 2-3
………………………………………………………..
Fenerbahçe (1) 1
Scorers: A. Potuk 45+1
Yellow card: Elmas 22, Ş. Özbayraklı 90
Subs used: Soldado 65 (Valbuena), Alıcı 65 (Topal), Ş.
Özbayraklı 80 (Isla)
Benfica (1) 1
Scorers: Gedson Fernandes 26
Yellow card: Vlachodimos 52, Salvio 56, Rúben Dias 62, Pizzi
83
Subs used: Ferreyra 34 (Castillo), Alfa Semedo 72 (Salvio)
Aggregate score: 1-2
………………………………………………………..
AEK Athens (1) 2
Scorers: Rodrigo Galo 6, M. Livaja 50
Yellow card: Livaja 42, Rodrigo Galo 53, Mandalos 90
Subs used: Mandalos 73 (Klonaridis), Albanis 82 (Rodrigo
Galo), Ćosić 91 (Bakasetas)
Celtic (0) 1
Scorers: S. Sinclair 78
Yellow card: Brown 68, Griffiths 79
Subs used: Dembélé 60 (Lustig), Sinclair 76 (Rogić)
Aggregate score: 3-2
………………………………………………………..
Dinamo Zagreb (0) 1
Scorers: M. Gavranović 74
Subs used: Gavranović 56 (Budimir), Ņunjić 70 (Gojak),
Perić 82 (Oršić)
Astana (0) 0
Yellow card: Postnikov 44, Maliy 55
Subs used: Muzhikov 78 (Almeyda), Shchetkin 78
(Kleinheisler), Kabananga 78 (Janga)
Aggregate score: 3-0
………………………………………………………..
Vidi (0) 0
Yellow card: Kovács 80, Pátkai 89, Huszti 94
Missed penalty: D. Lazović 67
Subs used: Pátkai 85 (Nikolov), Huszti 89 (Kovács), Tamás 95
(Lazović)
Malmö FF (0) 0
Yellow card: Dahlin 65, Christiansen 78
Subs used: Antonsson 70 (Strandberg), Vindheim 75 (Larsson),
Gall 79 (Innocent)
Aggregate score: 1-1
………………………………………………………..
Shkendija (0) 0
Yellow card: Adili 33, Bejtulai 73, Musliu 90
Subs used: Bojku 46 (Nafiu), Selmani 71 (Adili), Shefiti 86
(Emini)
Salzburg (0) 1
Scorers: T. Minamino 90+2
Yellow card: Dabour 61, Schlager 61, Samassekou 81
Subs used: Minamino 68 (Yabo), Daka 76 (Dabour), Leitgeb 89
(Schlager)
Aggregate score: 0-4
………………………………………………………..
Ajax (2) 3
Scorers: K. Huntelaar 30, M. de Ligt 34, David Neres 46
Subs used: Kristensen 76 (Mazraoui), van de Beek 82 (David
Neres), Labyad 90 (Ziyech)
Standard Liège (0) 0
Yellow card: M’Poku 76
Subs used: Cimirot 53 (Bastien), Pocognoli 65 (Cavanda),
Orlando Sá 78 (Emond)
Aggregate score: 5-2
………………………………………………………..
Spartak Trnava (1) 1
Scorers: M. Bakoš 6
Yellow card: Godál 19, Bakoš 35, Tóth 66, Sloboda 91,
Grendel 94, Hladík 117
Missed penalty: B. Godál 122
Subs used: Dangubić 100 (Rada), Hladík 106 (Čonka)
Crvena Zvezda (1) 2
Scorers: E. Mohamed Ben 7, N. Radonjić 98
Yellow card: Mohamed Ben 28, Stojković 38, Stojiljković 60,
Degenek 72, Pavkov 86, Radonjić 99, Rodić 121
Subs used: Pavkov 75 (Stojiljković), Jovičić 85 (Simić),
Gobeljić 101 (Jovančić), Babić 108 (Radonjić)
At full time: 1-1
After extra time: 1-2
Aggregate score: 2-3
