By Melody Gross 
Olympiacos, led by Pedro Martins, was eliminated in the third round of qualifying for the Champions League, by Ludogorets, on penalties, after being tied with two goals at the end of regular time and in overtime. On the other hand, Gelson Martins was once again in the spotlight by Monaco, as was Roma in the service of PSV Eindhoven, Benfica’s next opponent.
The Greek team advanced in the 31st minute through Frenchman Yan Mvilla, but Ruben Semedo, in an unfortunate move at the beginning of the second half, put the ball in his team’s goal and tied the match.
The Bulgarian team turned the score in the 57th minute through Cypriot striker Pieros Sotirio, but Moroccan top scorer Youssef Elaraby returned Olympiacos to the match, which ended the first leg in Athens with a 1-1 draw.
Pedro Martins’ team was also reduced to ten after 86 minutes, due to the sending off of Senegalese midfielder Osino Ba, with whom Ruben Semedo plays in the heart of the defense.
With the change introduced by UEFA this season, to cancel the advantage resulting from away goals, it was necessary to resort to extra time that did not change the result that occurred at the end of the 90 minutes and it was necessary to resort to a series. of penalties.
Ludogorets completed his four penalty shootouts (the fifth is no longer necessary), while Olympiacos missed two penalties, one from French international Mathieu Valbuena, and the other to Egyptian striker Coca, the former Sporting de Braga, then known as Hassan.
Golson Martins and Brumma scored
However, Monaco moved on to the playoffs, defeating Sparta Braga (3-1), in another match with Gelson Martins in the spotlight. The Portugal international, who already scored on Friday against Nantes (1-1), has now opened the scoring in the victory over the Czech national team.
The other Portuguese international, Bromma, also gave the Dutch PSV Eindhoven victory over the Danish Mitjelland, already in the compensation period, 90 + 3 minutes, after he entered in the 64th minute, replacing the young Englishman Noni Madueki.
PSV Eindhoven, who eliminated Midtjylland (3-0, 1-0) in the third round of qualifying for the Champions League, will be Benfica’s opponents in the play-offs to reach the group stage of the competition.