Wednesday, August 27, 2014

UEFA Champions League Playoff Round: Gunners, Leverkusen, Ludogorets (After PK Thriller), Malmo, Athletic Bilbao Advance To Group Stage

Five more clubs locked up berths in the group stage as not only the playoff round, but the qualifying process for the UEFA Champions League came to a conclusion.

At Malmo, Sweden:

Markus Rosenberg scored twice (PK-11', 84') as Malmo FF overcame their series-opening 2-1 road defeat with a 3-0 home win over FC Red Bull Salzburg in game two and won the series 4-2 on aggregate to become the first Swedish club to reach the Champions League's group stage since Helsingborgs IF in 2000.

At Sofia, Bulgaria:

After Wanderson Cristaldo Farias delivered the only goal of regualation in the 90th minute that enabled PFC Ludogorets Razgrad to win game two against visiting Steaua Bucharest 1-0 and deadlock the two-match series at 1-1 on aggregate, which set the stage for what proved to be 30 minutes of scoreless overtime, Cosmin Moti, Hamza Younes, Junior Ciacara, Marcelinho, Svetoslav Dyakov, and Fabio Espinho converted their spot kicks as the Bulgarian club took the penalty-kick shootout 6-5 to advance to the Champions League's group stage for the first time. 

At London:

Alexis Sanchez scored the only goal of both the game and the series in the opening minute of first-half stoppage time as Arsenal, despite ending the game with ten men, blanked visiting Besiktas 1-0 in both game two and the series on aggregate to advance to the group stage.

At Leverkusen, Germany:

Stefan Kiessling scored twice (PK-31', 65') as Bayer Leverkusen demolished visiting FC Copenhagen 4-0 in game two and finished off the Danish club 7-2 on aggregate.

At Bilbao, Spain:

Aritz Aduriz scored twice (61', 69') as Athletic Bilbao defeated visiting Napoli 3-1 in game two and took out the Italian club 4-3 on aggregate.

All clubs that were eliminated at this round would still qualify for the group stage of the Europa League.

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