August 24 – On the day that domestic football returned to Ukraine, Dynamo Kyiv were eliminated from the Champions League, losing 5-0 on aggregate to Lisbon giants Benfica.
The Portuguese club enjoyed a three-goal advantage from the first leg and wrapped up the tie with another comfortable 3-0 win at home through first-half goals from Nicolas Otamendi, Rafa Silva and David Neres.
Israel’s Maccabi Haifa and Viktoria Plzen from the Czech Republic will join Benfica in the group stage of Europe’s Premier club competition.
Haifa snatched a dramatic last-minute 2-2 against Red Star in Belgrade to return to the Champions League for the first time since 2009. Milan Pakvok was the villain for the Serbian as his 90th minute own goal handed the Israeli side a 5-4 aggregate victory. They are the first Israeli club to feature three times in the Champions League, but no club from the country has ever reached the last 16.
After a goalless opening leg in Azerbaijan, Viktoria Plzen edged Qarabag 2-1 with Jan Kopic and Jan Kliment’s goals cancelling out Philip Ozobic’s opener. It’s the ninth time that the Czech club will participate in the Champions League.
On Wednesday, the last three Champions League slots will be decided. FC Copenhagen will travel to Trabzon with a slender 1-0 advantage while Norway’s Bodo Glimt hold a one-goal lead as well as they visit Dinamo Zagreb, but most eyes will be on Eindhoven where Glasgow Rangers take a 2-2 draw to the Phillips Stadium.
With the exception of Benfica, all of the teams that qualified on Tuesday and will progress on Wednesday will find themselves in Pot 4 for the Champions League draw that will take place on Thursday in the Turkish capital, Istanbul.
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