The Swiss from Young Boys, the Austrian from Salzburg and the Czech from Sparta Prague qualified for the regular round of the Champions League today, Tuesday, at the expense of Galatasaray, Dynamo Kiev and Malmo respectively.
After losing 3-2 in Switzerland, to Galatasaray under Sergio Oliveira – who is not part of coach Irfan Saraloglu's plans or even on the matchday squad – one goal was enough to draw, however, the Turkish champions were not dominant enough to achieve that against the bottom-placed team from Switzerland.
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Calmly defending and counting on counterattacks, the outsiders resisted the hellish environment and the greater pressure from the Istanbul team, and in a counterattack, in the 87th minute, the young Frenchman Alain Virginius, who had recently arrived, escaped his marker and into Muslera's goal. In his face, he shot the ball over the Uruguayan goalkeeper, who would end up being sent off for his unsportsmanlike reaction to the goal.
In Prague, Sparta were given a break thanks to two goals scored in Sweden against Malmö, but they only had a rest in the latter part, in a match in which Lukas Haraslin shone, with a penalty goal and an assist, after a goal by Mukhtar, which would be disallowed by VAR.
Before the celebrations, Serbian Veljko Permancevic missed a penalty kick in the 19th minute, shooting over the bar, but the outsiders were not more effective in the 27th minute, as Danish Anders Christiansen saved the goalkeeper.
And from the third penalty kick of the match, Haraslin made it 1-0, in the 80th minute, three minutes before, after a great individual play, Kosovo Albion Rahmani helped to make the final score 2-0, repeating the result of the first man.
In Austria, after winning 2-0 away, Salzburg took the lead in the 12th minute, through young Dane Adam Dagem, against the run of play, before Vladislav Vanat equalised in the 29th minute for Dynamo Kyiv, who had been stronger on their goal for an hour, but failed to finish the match to be able to discuss the draw more consistently.
On Wednesday, four more teams will receive a “passport” to the next stage, after being eliminated from the matches of Qarabag-Dinamo Zapreb (0-3), Strela Vermelha-Bodø/Glimt (1-2), Slavia Prague-Lille (0-2) and Slovan Bratislava-Midtjylland (1-1).
The Sporting and Benfica champions are guaranteed a place in the Champions League stage, the draw for which will be held on Thursday.
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