UEFA Champions League Qualifying: Rangers Drop Series Opener To Malmo

The third round of qualifying for the upcoming UEFA Champions League commenced on Tuesday with the opening games of eight two-match series.

Champions Path:

At Tbilisi, Georgia:

Patrick Wolf's equalizer at 78 minutes lifted SK Sturm Graz to a 1-1 road draw in game one of their two-game series with FC Zestafoni.  Nikoloz Gelashvili scored at 74 minutes for the Ferrovians.

At Panevezys, Lithuania:

The opening match between FC BATE Borisov and hosts Ekranas ended in a 0-0 stalemate.

At Nicosia, Cyprus:

Slovan Bratislava held hosts APOEL FC to a 0-0 opening-match deadlock.

At Lovech, Bulgaria:

Michael Lamey (19') and Maor Melikson (76') each tallied once as Wisla Krakow knocked off Litex Lovech 2-1 on the road in their series opener.

At Genk, Belgium:


Late goals courtesy of Jelle Vossen (PK-70') and Marvin Ogunjimi (90'+2) enabled KRC Genk to take the opening contest of their two-match series 2-1 over Partizan Belgrade.  Nemanja Tomic's goal at 65 minutes could still prove to be a precious away goal for the visiting Serbian club.

At Glasgow, Scotland:


Daniel Larsson scored early (18') as Swedish champs Malmo FF took game one from Rangers 1-0 on the road.

Non-Champions Path:

At Kiev, Ukraine:

FC Rubin Kazan, with goals courtesy of Alan Kasaev (6') and Bebras Natcho (PK-68'), blanked Dynamo Kiev 2-0 on the road in the opening match of their two-game series.

At Arnhem, Netherlands:


Marc Janko scored both goals (PK-34', 57') as FC Twente blanked visiting FC Vaslui 2-0 in their series opener.