Six goals and two removal in Kiev
In the playoff round of the Champions League qualification, Krasnodar will be the only team from the countries of the former Soviet Union, since the performance in the main European competition was completed by the Azerbaijani Karabakh and Dynamo Kiev.
The vice-champion of Ukraine in the first match lost to Brugge away with a minimum score and had quite a working chance of reaching the next stage. In addition, already in the sixth minute, Vitaliy Buyalsky managed to push the hosts ahead. However, shortly before the break, the guests successfully played a corner and restored the status quo on the scoreboard.
At the beginning of the second half, the Kiev team came forward again, but to win the sum of two meetings they needed one more ball. “Dynamo” the whole team went ahead and was punished for it by an effective counterattack of the opponent - 2: 2.
But the wards of Alexander Khatskevich did not give up until the very end and in the added time they again achieved the advantage in the long run - Brandon Mechele sent the shell into his own goal. Kiev had a few minutes to score the decisive goal, but shortly before the final whistle, the Brugge footballer put an end to this confrontation - 3: 3. The Belgian team goes further.
At the same time, incomplete rivals finished the meeting. First, the second yellow card was received by the defender of the hosts Nikita Burda, and then - striker guests Percy Tau.
Incredible penalty shootout in Copenhagen
In only one match of the game day, opponents had to identify the strongest in the penalty shootout. “Copenhagen” and “Crvena Zvezda” tied for the second time in a row with the score 1: 1. Moreover, the champion of Serbia in Denmark managed to come forward in the 18th minute, but right before the break, the ex-Lokomotiv striker Dame N'Doya restored his balance.
The players were no longer able to score either in the main or in extra time, but, as in Kiev, they did not manage without a couple of deletions. As a result, the teams had to start the “lottery”. The guests started it extremely unsuccessfully and of the first three strokes realized only one. It seemed that “Crvena Zvezda” could say goodbye to her dreams of breaking into the group stage for the second time in a row.
But then the hosts began to make mistakes, nevertheless, the same N'Doye, with a score of 3: 3 after the opponent’s miss, could have brought Copenhagen a victory, but failed to implement the attempt. Following the guests again missed, but Carlo Bartolets could not beat the goalkeeper. As a result, a slip of Jonas Wind brought “Red Star” to the next round, where she will face off against the “Young Boys”.
Three eleven meters into the PAOK goal
Only the penalty kick helped the current semi-finalist of the Champions League “Ajax”, because the judge from England Craig Pawson appointed three eleven meters at the gate of PAOK in Amsterdam. True, they all turned out to be almost indisputable. Dusan Tadic sold two of them, but one could not - Alexandros Paschalakis made a save.
At the same time, the Greek champion managed to open an account. Already in the 23rd minute, Diego Bisesvar from the penalty kick struck into the near corner. But the foul of the same Biseswara allowed Pawson to point to the “point” just before the break.
And towards the end, the owners squeezed an opponent inferior in the class, distinguishing themselves twice more. The second goal of Bisesvar in the 93rd minute did not save PAOK, because they did not have time to get back and get into the round of the playoffs.
Victory of the rival of Krasnodar
But another Greek team - Olympiacos - managed to go further, and now the team from Piraeus will meet with Krasnodar. The rival of the multiple champion of the country in the third qualifying round was the Turkish Istanbul Bashaksehir, and the red-white beat the opponent twice.
Away, the wards of Pedro Martins won with a minimum score, and at home they scored two unanswered goals at the opponent’s goal. At the same time, in the first half, the guests could have distinguished themselves, but Jose de Sa acted above all praises, which in Istanbul reflected a penalty. By the way, he extended his “dry” series in the Champions League to four meetings.
And Olympiacos, after the break, scored twice thanks to a draw of standard provisions. It is noteworthy that the penalty was realized by former Dynamo midfielder Mathieu Valbuena, who again has to come to Russia. Also, three Portuguese as part of the Piraeans will try to take revenge on Krasnodar for the departure of Porto. True, only de Sa defended the colors of the “dragons” in the past.
On the other hand, for many venerable age stars of Istanbul, this Champions League may be the last: Robinho, Demba Ba, Gael Clichy, Arda Turan - all of them have long crossed the 30-year mark.
Seven goals and an incredible ending in Glasgow
Finally, an incredibly dramatic duel took place in Scotland, where Celtic hosted the CFR Cluj. The first match ended in a draw - 1: 1, and the hosts were considered the favorites of the confrontation. However, the strongest team in Romania at the end of half an hour of the game opened the scoring thanks to the exact blow of Ciprian Diak.
The team from Glasgow did not give up and in the second half managed not only to recoup, but also to come forward. As part of the wards of Neil Lennon distinguished James Forrest and Odson Edouard. However, 15 minutes before the end, a judge came to the aid of the guests, who appointed an ambiguous penalty into the opponent’s goal, which was realized by Biyel Omrani - 2: 2. This account has already arranged "Cluj".
However, this was not the end. “Celtic” as a whole team went to the gates of others and literally in the next attack again broke forward.
But the next successful strike by Omrani turned out to be fatal for the hosts, and in the end they missed the fourth goal in a counterattack. As a result, “Cluj” went into the playoff round, where it will play with the Czech “Slavia”. And in the asset of Omrani there are already six goals in six matches of the Champions League qualification.