Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Atletico, Lyon, Debreceni, Maccabi Haifa, FC Zurich Advance To Group Stage

Five clubs won their way to the UEFA Champions League's group stage on Tuesday.

Champions Path:

At Tel Aviv, Israel:

Goals from Vladimer Dvalishvili (31'), Eyal Golasa (57'), and Mohammad Ghadir (90') powered Maccabi Haifa FC to an easy 3-0 home thumping of FC Red Bull Salzburg in game two of their two-game series and a 5-1 aggregate win for the series, lifting the Israeli club into the UEFA Champions League group stage for the first time since 2002-03.

At Budapest, Hungary:

Jozsef Varga (13') and Gergely Rudolf (35') each tallied once as Debreceni VSC blanked visiting PFC Levski Sofia 2-0 in game two to take the two-match set 4-1 on aggregate to become the first Hungarian club to reach the Champions League's group stage since Ferencvarosi TC in 1994-95.

At St. Gallen, Switzerland:

With goals courtesy of Johan Vonlanthen (6') and Almen Abdi (90'+2), FC Zurich defeated visiting FK Ventspils 2-1 in game two to take the two-game set 5-1 on aggregate. For the Swiss club, this marks their first-ever group stage appearance.

Non-Champions Path:

Lisandro's first-half hat trick (26', 32', 41') guided Lyon to a 3-1 game-two road win over RSC Anderlecht. The long-time French powerhouse finished off their Belgian opponents 8-2 on aggregate and will compete in the group stage for the tenth straight season.

At Madrid:

Sergio Aguero scored in the 83rd minute as Atletico Madrid defeated visiting Panathinaikos 2-0 in game two to take their two-match series 5-2 on aggregate. They will agian compete in the group stage.

The five clubs that lost their two-match series today, as well as tomorrow's losers will still play in the group stage of the Europa League.

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