The second round of qualifying for the Champions League concluded yesterday and we had some very interesting results. Here’s our pick of the major results.
Basel 2-1 PSV (4-4 on aggregate, Basel progress on away goals)
Perhaps the result of the round, and PSV’s early exit from the tournament means that it’s again left to Ajax to fly the Dutch flag in Europe. They did a fantastic job of it last season, but with the likes of Frenkie de Jong and Matthijs de Ligt leaving the Amsterdam Arena in the summer, it remains to be seen whether they can produce another fairytale run in the competition. Ajax also have a tricky third round opponent in the form of Greek champions PAOK.
PSV’s exit also makes the end of the transfer window a little more interesting- the likes of Bergwijn, Lozano and Dumfries would all want to play in the Champions League, which may mean an exit from the Phillips Stadium for some or all of their key players.
AIK 3-2 Maribor (4-4 on aggregate after AET, Maribor progress on away goals)
AIK were three minutes away from progressing into the third qualifying round before Alexandru Cretu’s 117th minute strike saved Maribor’s blushes. The Swedish side were competing at this stage of the Champions League for the first time in nearly a decade (their last appearance was in 2010-11), and the home fans were left heartbroken after Cretu’s strike.
Nomme Kalju 0-2 Celtic (Celtic win 7-0 on aggregate)
Celtic have been iffy away in Europe in this decade (remember Shakhtar Karagandy?), but fortunately had no such issues against Nomme Kalju, beating the Estonians 2-0 on the road to complete a 7-0 win on aggregate. The likes of Callum McGregor, James Forrest and Odsonne Edouard, all important players for the club as seen on fantasy sites like allfantasytips.com, were not required in Estonia. They will however be definitely called into action in the third round of qualifying, with Dan Petrescu’s CFR Cluj awaiting the Hoops.
Rosenborg 2-0 BATE (Rosenborg win 3-2 on aggregate)
Belarussian champions BATE usually don’t get eliminated so early in the competition- their last five European CL campaigns saw them get to the third qualifying round or better, but they were beaten 2-0 by Norwegian outfit Rosenborg, whose reward is a tasty tie against Maribor.
Second round qualifying results (aggregate)
CFR Cluj 3-2 Maccabi Tel Aviv
BATE 2-3 Rosenborg
TNS 0-3 Kobenhavn
Ferencvaros 4-2 Valletta
Dundalk 1-4 Qarabag
Saburtalo Tbilisi 0-5 Dinamo Zagreb
Celtic 7-0 Nomme Kalju
Red Star 3-2 HJK
Sutjeska Niksic 0-4 APOEL
Maribor 4-4 AEK (Maribor on away goals)
Viktoria Plzen 0-4 Olympiakos
PSV 4-4 Basel (Basel on away goals)
Third qualifying draw
CFR Cluj vs Celtic
APOEL vs Qarabag
PAOK vs Ajax
Dinamo Zagreb vs Ferencvaros
Red Star vs Kobenhavn
Maribor vs Rosenborg
Istanbul Basaksehir vs Olympiakos
Krasnodar vs Porto
Brugge vs Dinamo Kiev
Basel vs LASK