In the final hurdle before the UEFA Champions League group stage, five teams from across Europe advanced on Tuesday to the main stage of the continent’s premier club competition. Three out of five matches on the day finished with one goal deciding the outcome, including Steaua Bucharest defeating Legia Warsaw on away goals to make the group stage for the first time in five years.
Schalke also left it late, qualifying despite going down to 10 men, and Dinamo Zagreb nearly defeated Austria Wien in miraculous fashion, only for a goal in the last 10 minutes to break the Croatians’ hearts.
The final five participants in the group stage will be decided Wednesday, after a final batch of qualifiers.
Arsenal 2-0 (5-0 aggregate) Fenerbahçe
Already with one foot in the group stage thanks to a resounding 3-0 win in Istanbul, Arsenal strolled to a 2-0 win over Fenerbahçe at the Emirates Stadium. Aaron Ramsey scored the game’s only goals in the 25th and 72nd minutes.
Austria Wien 2-3 (4-3 aggregate) Dinamo Zagreb
Dinamo Zagreb needed a quick start against Austria Wien to have any hope of reversing a two-goal deficit in the second leg. Instead, Florian Mader put the home side up in the first five minutes, but Marcelo Brozović and Junior Fernándes pulled two back for Dinamo before halftime. Fatos Bećiraj completed an improbable comeback in the 70th minute, but the Croatians’ joy would turn to despair after Roman Kienast came off the bench and scored for the home side in the 82nd.
FC Basel 2-0 (6-2 aggregate) Ludogorets Razgrad
In a similar position as Arsenal, FC Basel found a similar result over Ludogorets Razgrad. Fabian Frei scored in the 11th minute, and the Bulgarian side never seriously threatened to mount a comeback, managing just one shot on target throughout the second 90 minutes of this tie. Substitute Philipp Degen added the final nail in Ludogorets’ coffin in the 79th minute.
Legia Warsaw 2-2 (3-3 aggregate) Steaua Bucharest
After a 1-1 tie in Romania last week, both Legia Warsaw and Steaua Bucharest had all to play for on Tuesday. Steaua got off to the best possible start, scoring twice in the first 10 minutes through Nicolae Stanciu and Federico Piovaccari, ensuring Legia would need three goals on the night to advance. The Polish champion pulled one back through Miroslav Radović in the 27th minute, but Steaua’s staunch defense withstood a second-half barrage to send the team into the group stage. Jakub Rzeźniczak’s stoppage-time goal was too little, too late, ensuring only that Steaua would advance on away goals instead of with an outright win in the Polish capital.
PAOK 2-3 (3-4 aggregate) Schalke
In the most closely contested tie of the day, PAOK hosted Schalke with a great chance to advance. Those chances were dented when Hungarian international Ádám Szalai put the German team up 1-0 just before halftime. The tables seemed to turn midway through the second half after Stefanos Athanasiadis equalized, and U.S. midfielder Jermaine Jones saw a red card for his second cautionable offense.
However, just three minutes after the red card, Julian Draxler scored for Schalke, his team’s second away goal, ensuring there would be no extra time. His team down a goal but up a man, Kostas Katsouranis tied the match with 79th-minute strike, but PAOK could not break through one more time in the final 10 minutes. Szalai scored in the 90th minute, giving Schalke an outright win over two legs.
Wednesday’s games (2:45 p.m. ET unless otherwise noted): Zenit St. Petersburg vs. Paços de Ferreira (noon, 1-4 first leg), NK Maribor vs. Viktoria Plzeň (1-3 first leg), Real Sociedad vs. Olympique Lyonnais (2-0 first leg), AC Milan vs. PSV Eindhoven (1-1 first leg), Celtic vs. Shakhter Karagandy (0-2 first leg)
