Arsenal 1 – 0 Besiktas (Aggregate 1-0 for Arsenal)
Arsenal went through to the group stages of the UEFA Champions League, after a tense night at the Emirates, narrowly so. Had former Chelsea striker Demba Ba connected cleanly with his head just a minute before the end of the match and sent the ball into the Arsenal goal, it would have been curtains for Arsenal and the first time in 17 years when they wouldn’t be a part of European club football’s top competition, the UEFA Champions League. For Arsenal the star player was new signing Alexis Sanchez, who played as the lone striker with French international Olivier Giroud out with an injury. Sanchez scored the only goal of the match, taking full advantage of a quick exchange of passes between Mathieu Debuchy and Mesut Ozil, before smashing the ball with his right foot into the gaping Besiktas net. But there were tense moments for the nervous home supporters as Debuchy was sent off because of a second yellow card almost 25 minutes before the end of the match. Still, Arsenal held on, even with just 10 men.
Bayer Leverkusen 4 – 0 FC Copenhagen (Aggregate 7-2 for Leverkusen)
The German club Bayer Leverkusen completely dominated the second leg of the UEFA Champions League qualifiers played in Germany against Danish top team FC Copenhagen, winning 4 goals to nil, with goals coming from Heung Min-Song, Hakan Calhannoglu and two goals from Stephen Keissling. Copenhagen were never in the hunt having lost the first leg at home 3-2 and the first two goals by Leverkusen virtually finished the match as a contest. An easy win for the Germans, who go through to the next stage of trhe competion.
FC Zenith St. Pietersburg 3 – 0 Standard Liege (Aggregate 4-2 for Zenith)
It was an emphatic win for the Russian giants Zenith Saint Pietersburg over their Belgian rivals. Zenith are coached by the young manager Andre-Villas Boas, who was earlier the manager of Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur in the English Premier League. Boas’ team never looked in trouble especially with their superstar from Brazil, Hulk, leading them on. Hulk has been criticized for his performance at the World Cup for Brazil, but here he was perfect, effortlessly setting up his team’s win with two great goals.
FC Porto 2 – 0 Lille (Aggregate 3-0 for Porto)
The former Champions League winners FC Porto were in no mood to give up their continued run in the competition, easily beating the French team Lille 2 to nothing to go through to the group stages of Europe’s top sporting competition with an aggregate of 3-0. The goals for Porto were scored by Yacine Brahimi and Jackson Martinez.
Celtic 0 – 1 Maribor (Aggregate 2-1 to Maribor)
Celtic’s season may have just started, but it already seems all over for the famous Scottish club as they crashed out of the UEFA Champions League losing to little known Slovenian club at home, in a match witnessed by around 60,000 shocked fans at the jam packed Celtic Park. Celtic were clearly lacking in quality and had no answer to Maribor striker Marcos Taveres’s 15th minute goal. Now, with only the Scottish Football League to look forward to, most Celtic fans already feel that their football season is over. Champions League was the only stage for Celtic to mix up with Europe’s top clubs, and showcase their talent. But now, they are out of it.
Athletic Bilbao 3 – 1 Napoli (Aggregate 4-2)
Athletic Bilbao became the fourth Spanish team to qualify for the group stages of the European Champions League after Athletic Madrid, Barcelona and Real Madrid. It was an empathic win for the Spanish club over the Italian side Napoli, which underline the great gulf in quality between the Spanish La Liga and the Italian Serie A. The goals for Bilbao came from Aritz Arduriz, who had two to his credit, and Gomez Ibai.
