Sheriff's achievement, Shakhtar's character and Karasev's refereeing: how the Champions League qualification ended

In the Champions League, all the participants of the group stage have been determined and all possible rivals of Zenit have become known, who can get him after the draw (it will be held on the evening of August 26).

Following the qualification results, six more clubs were added to the 26 teams that made it directly to the main round.

They are Benfica, Malmo, Red Bull Salzburg, Shakhtar, Sheriff and Young Boys.

For the Russian fans, the most intriguing play-off round was the confrontation between Shakhtar Donetsk and Monaco, for which Alexander Golovin is playing.

The first match in Monaco ended unsuccessfully for Niko Kovacs's charges.

The only goal in this game was scored by Pedrinho, who was one of seven Brazilians of Shakhtar on the field and one of 11 in the application.

Golovin played 60 minutes and during this time managed to create a scoring chance not only for himself, but also for his partners, but Monaco had problems with the implementation.

The return meeting in Kharkov took place in a completely different scenario.

Shakhtar completely gave up the initiative and almost paid for it.

Monegasques actively spent the first half and came out ahead on aggregate.

Wissam Ben-Yedder scored a double, and Golovin almost became the author of an assist when, after his free kick, Benoit Badyashil shot into the post.

After the break, the Ukrainian club had only one shot on target of Monaco's goal, but it turned out to be accurate.

Marlos, shortly after coming on as a substitute, figured out in someone else's penalty area and played one ball.

The guests tried to regain the advantage, but did not have time before the end of regular time.

In the additional, there was a real disaster - Ruben Aguilar turned a simple pass in his own penalty area into an own goal.

Shakhtar achieved a draw and advanced to the main round.

At the draw, he, like Zenit, will be in the third basket.

The real sensation was presented by the Moldovan “Sheriff”.

The club from Tiraspol was the first in the history of its country to make it to the group stage of the Champions League.

He began his journey with the first qualifying round and in the first six matches beat rivals with a total score of 11: 2.

For a ticket to the main round of the tournament, it remained to compete with the much more experienced Dynamo Zagreb.

The first match in Tiraspol turned into a rout for the Croats. Sheriff, headed by former Zenit captain Yuriy Vernidub, scored three unanswered goals. Malian Adam Traore scored a double, and with the second ball he was helped by Moldovan Enrique Luvannor. Interestingly, in stoppage time, he left the field, and the team was left without any homegrown players at all, while the Zagrebians started the match with nine Croats in the starting lineup. In the return match, “Sheriff” played skillfully on defense and achieved a goalless draw, which made it possible to achieve the highest achievement in the history of Moldovan football.

It is also quite unusual to see Swedish Malmö in the group stage.

Clubs from this country have not been able to break into the main stage of the Champions League for the past six years.

In 2015, the same Malmö managed to achieve this, starting from the second qualifying round.

This time, the Swedes had to start their European path from an even earlier stage.

They consistently passed the Latvian "Riga", the Finnish HIK and the Scottish "Rangers", and the last barrier on their way was the Bulgarian "Ludogorets".

Croat Antonio-Mirko Colak helped a lot to reach the last qualifying round - he scored five goals and topped the top scorer rating of the tournament, and also received a call for the next national team match with Russia.

In the games against Ludogorets, it is true, Cholak could not distinguish himself, but Serb Velko Birmanchevic tried for him.

Together with Norwegian Jo Inge Berget, he brought Malmö a 2-0 victory in the first leg, and in the return leg put opponents in a difficult position when he scored at the end of the first half.

The Bulgarian club won that meeting with a score of 2: 1, but still went to the Europa League.

The confrontation between Young Boys and Ferencvaros has turned out to be the most fierce so far in this tournament.

In the first match, the Swiss were in the minority already in the 25th minute, when the score was 1: 1, but managed to score two more goals.

The Hungarian club only managed to close the gap thanks to Frank Boli's double.

The return leg was served by the team of the Russian referee Sergei Karasev, who showed six yellow cards to the players of Ferencvaros (one more went to the Swiss).

In the middle of the second half, Aissa Laiduni got two yellow cards, which is why the hosts had to finish the match with ten men.

By that time, the score was 2: 2, and in the end the Young Boys gave the opponent a blow.

Another example of resilience was demonstrated by Benfica.

The Portuguese club, which sent Spartak to the Europa League, fought in the playoffs against the Dutch PSV.

At home, the Lisbon team took over with a score of 2: 1 thanks to goals from Rafael Silva, assisted by Ukrainian Roman Yaremchuk, and Juliana Veigl.

The away duel was difficult for them.

Already in the first half, defender Lucas Verissimo left the field, having managed to get two warnings in half an hour.

PSV tried very hard to open up the Portuguese defense, but it turned out to be impregnable.

None of the eight shots on target reached the goal.

Even the substitutions did not help, as a result of which the Dutch spent almost 20 minutes with four strikers.

Benfica still went further and got into the same basket with Zenit.

Another ticket was played by the Austrian Red Bull Salzburg and Danish Brøndby.

Unlike other teams, they started in the Champions League right from the playoff round.

The Austrians were initially the favorites in this confrontation and naturally won two victories with a score of 2: 1.

Both victorious goals were scored by the young American Brenden Aaronson, and in one meeting he distinguished himself in the tenth minute, and in the other - in the last. The Red Bull victory meant Austria overtook Russia in the UEFA odds table to move up to ninth place.