UEFA Champions league play off round

UEFA Champions league play off round

Atletico Madrid secured their spot in the Champions League group stage after sealing a 5-2 aggregate win over 10-man Panathinaikos.

Leading 3-2 from the first leg in Athens, Atletico needed just five minutes to further strengthen their stranglehold on the tie when Panathinaikos defender Loukas Vintra put through his own net.

That was a huge setback for the Greek side and their hopes of staging an unlikely fightback suffered a further blow midway through the second half when striker Djibril Cisse was sent off.

The Greek side in fact created some of their best openings when they were down to 10 men, but Sergio Aguero's goal seven minutes from time ensured there were no late scares for the Spanish side.

A first-half hat-trick from Lisandro Lopez sealed the most comprehensive of wins as Lyon strolled past Anderlecht and into the Champions League group stage.

Lopez, who scored one in the first leg as Lyon won 5-1, was on target in the 26th, 32nd and 41st minutes as the French side booked their place in the main draw for the 10th successive year.

Matias Suarez pulled one back from the spot six minutes into the second half, but it did not stop the tie being one to forget for the Belgians.

Maccabi Haifa booked their place in the group stage of the Champions League with a 3-0 win at home to Salzburg in the second leg of their play-off tonight to seal an emphatic 5-1 aggregate success.

Vladimer Dvalishvili opened the scoring in the 31st minute for the Israelis and teenager Eyal Golasa made it two shortly before the hour mark.

Mohammad Ghadir added a third in the 90th minute.

FC Zurich also wrapped up a 5-1 aggregate win, knocking out Latvian side Ventspils.

The Swiss outfit won 2-1 tonight thanks to a 90th-minute winner from Almen Abdi.

Johan Vonlanthen had put them ahead in the sixth minute, only for Igor Tigirlas to level two minutes later.

Debrecen completed a 4-1 aggregate win over Levski Sofia with a 2-0 victory in Hungary tonight.

Two away goals in the Bulgarian capital last week had put Debrecen in the driving seat and they duly finished off the job thanks to efforts from Jozsef Varga (13) and Gergely Rudolf (36).