Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Olympiacos, APOEL, Gunners, Stuttgart, and Fiorentina Reach Champions League Group Stage

The playoff round for group stage berths in the UEFA Champions League concluded Wednesday.

Champions Path:

At Athens:

Kostas Mitroglou scored the only goal of the match at 82 minutes as Olympiacos defeated FC Sheriff 1-0 at home in game two of their two-match home-and-away series and took the two-match set 3-0 on aggregate to return to the Champions League group stage.

At Nicosia, Cypryus:

APOEL FC overturned last week's 1-0 road loss with a 3-1 home triumph in game two to eliminate FC Copenhagen 3-2 on aggregate. Kamil Kosowski (2') and Chrysostomos Michail (PK-18', 41') provided the goals that placed the Cypriot club in the group stage for the first time.

Non-Champions Path:

At London:

Eduardo (PK-28'), Emmanuel Eboue (53'), and Andrei Arshvin (74') each contributed a goal as Arsenal took care of visiting Celtic 3-1 in game two and 5-1 on aggregate in the series. For the Gunners, it will be their 12th consecutive appearance in the Champions League's group stage.

At Stuttgart, Germany:

A 0-0 home draw with FC Timisoara in game two was good enough for VfB Stuttgart to take the two-match set 2-0 on aggregate and advance to the group stage for the second time in three years.

At Florence, Italy:

Stevan Jovetic scored the series-winning goal at 54 minutes as Fiorentina gained a 1-1 home draw with Sporting and took the series (3-3) due to the fact they outscored the Portuguese club 2-1 on the road.

The five teams that were eliminated from Champions League play will take part in the group stage of the Europa League.

The draw for the Champions League group stage will take place in Monaco on Thursday.

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