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Some of the Europe’s biggest clubs stayed on course to reach the Champions League group stages on Wednesday by securing victories in the tournament’s third qualifying round.
Celtic, Anderlecht, Fenerbahce, FC Copenhagen, Panathinaikos and Dinamo Zagreb all secured their places in Friday’s draw for the play-off round, where they will be joined by sides from Europe’s biggest leagues.
Scottish champions Celtic, bidding to reach the group stages for the first time since 2008, beat HJK Helsinki 2-0 in Finland to secure a rare European away win and a 4-1 aggregate success.
Second-half goals from Joe Ledley and Giorgos Samaras settled the nerves for Neil Lennon’s side, who inflicted a first home defeat on HJK in over two years despite playing the latter stages of the game with only ten men following Victor Wanyama’s sending-off.
“It’s one of the best feelings I’ve had since I came here as manager. We worked very hard to get this right,” said Lennon, whose side will now be seeded for the play-off round.
“To come through the tie over the two legs and to play as well as we did tonight makes me so proud of the players.”
Belgian title-holders Anderlecht recorded the most emphatic win of the round, thumping Ekranas 6-0 in Lithuania to go through 11-0 on aggregate.
Fenerbahce romped to a 4-1 win against Vaslui in Romania to go through 5-2 on aggregate, with Dutch former Liverpool striker Dirk Kuyt bagging a brace.
Croatia’s Dinamo Zagreb were comfortable winners too, thumping Sheriff Tiraspol of Moldova 4-0 on the night to seal a 5-0 overall triumph, while Panathinaikos ended the hopes of Scottish outsiders Motherwell with a 3-0 victory in Athens.
And there was a dramatic triumph for FC Copenhagen, who edged past Club Brugge despite heading to Belgium on the back of a goalless draw in last week’s first leg.
The Danes, who reached the last 16 two seasons ago, came from behind twice before winning 3-2 on the night thanks to goals from Nicolai Jorgensen, Christian Bolanos and Cesar Santin.
There was also a dramatic victory for Basel, with the Swiss side relying on a last-minute penalty miss to beat Norwegian champions Molde, coached by former Manchester United star Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
Trailing 2-1 on aggregate but knowing that an away goal would take them through, Molde won a penalty right at the death, only for Magne Hoseth to see his effort saved by Yann Sommer.
Maribor, Helsingborg, Hapoel Kiryat Shmona, CFR Cluj and AEL Limassol also won through to the next round, joining Dynamo Kiev and BATE Borisov, who both won on Tuesday.
They will go into Friday’s play-off round draw, along with Malaga, Borussia Moenchengladbach, Udinese, Lille, Spartak Moscow and Braga, who all now enter the competition just one step away from the lucrative group phase.
But the European adventure is not over for all the clubs beaten at this stage — they will be parachuted into the draw for the Europa League play-off round.
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