Europa League 3rd Qualifying Round, 2nd leg
Teams in CAPITALS through to ELPO, losers go to ECLPO
August 9
Champions Path
(no seeding)
KF Shkupi (MKD) v SHAMROCK ROVERS FC (IRL) 1-2 (0-0), 2-5 on aggregate (Adetunji 90'+4; Gaffney 65', Emakhu 85')
Rory Gaffney settled the tie when his deflected shot curved over Shkupi keeper Naumovski. Late on youngster Aidomo Emakhu rounded Naumovski on the break, and Sunday Adetunji's stoppage-time goal was just consolation.
Hugely important win for the Rovers since they are now guaranteed group stage football, only the fourth time a League of Ireland team manages this feat after Shamrock Rovers themselves in 2011-12, and Dundalk in 2016-17 and 2020-21 (all of those in the Europa League).
August 11
Champions Path
(no seeding)
HJK (FIN) v NK Maribor (SLO) 1-0 (0-0), 3-0 on aggregate
(Hostikka 54')
The Slovenian champions made an effort to overcome the first-leg deficit but were toothless in attack, and in the second half Santeri Hostikka sealed HJK's second consecutive European group stage with an angled shot past Maribor's Dutch keeper Bergsen:
https://gfycat.com/PastelMisguidedHuman
FC Z|LRICH (SUI) v Linfield FC (NIR) 3-0 (2-0), 5-0 on aggregate
(Avdijaj 11', 26', Santini 84')
Donis Avdijaj, who just joined Z|+rich from Hartberg in the Austrian Bundesliga (and who a couple of years ago while playing for Sturm Graz gave a hilarious interview to a Styrian newspaper in which he famously described his dream of owning a swimming pool filled with money and surrounded by horses) scored an early brace by first firing in Antonio Marchesano's through ball and then heading in Adri|a Guerrero's cross. Veteran Croatian forward Ivan Santini, another of Z|+rich's summer signings, tapped in Fabian Rohner's cross for the third.
Guaranteed European football until Christmas might give Franco Foda some breathing space, but their nightmare league start with zero goals scored in the first four matches still weighs heavily.
F91 Diddeleng (LUX) v MALM|u FF (SWE) 2-2 (0-0), 2-5 on aggregate
(Hadji 56', Sinani 61'; Turay 50', Toivonen 52')
Malm||'s new striker Mohamed Buya Turay, who made the news last week when it came
out he missed his own wedding in Sierra Leone in order to make it in time to MFF's training camp and sent his brother as stand-in for the ceremony, got his first goal for the club he's that much dedicated to by firing in Joseph Ceesay's
low cross on the counter. A bit more than a minute later Malm|| broke again, and
Ola Toivonen likewise turned in a Ceesay cross. Credit to D|+delingen though for
not giving up, and a well-taken goal by Mustapha Hadji's son Samir and a gift by the Malm|| defence allowed them to salvage a draw, and some points for the Luxembourg coefficient.
+aK Slovan Bratislava (SLK) v OLYMPIACOS FC (GRE) 2-2 aet (0-0, 1-1), 3-3 on aggregate, Olympiacos win 4-3 on penalties
(+aaponji-c 90'+4, Green 108'; Zinckernagel 54', Camara 101';
Red Card: Abena (Slo) 90'+7)
After a boring first half things got much more interesting after the break - Olympiacos took the lead thanks to Philip Zinckernagel's deflected shot from distance:
https://gfycat.com/IdealTenderIberiannase and stoppage time was wild -
first Slovan's Serbian striker Ivan +aaponji-c scored an offside goal, then Olympiacos hit the crossbar through Masouras, Slovan got the equaliser when +aaponji-c stuck out a foot to steer in Uche Agbo's fierce cross:
https://gfycat.com/ablehelplesskid and also a player sent off when Suriname international Myenty Abena received a second yellow following an altercation with former Porto striker Tiquinho Soares. It looked like Olympiacos had won it against ten men when Masouras headed a long ball back across net and Guinean winger Aguibou Camara got away from his marker and slid in to steer the ball through Slovan keeper Chovan's legs:
https://gfycat.com/spiffysoupyantipodesgreenparakeet but just seven minutes later the Greek champions, apparently not wanting to be outdone in terms of bad defending, on occasion of a free-kick allowed four Slovan players to show up alone in front of their Czech keeper Vacl|!k and in the end it was Englishman Andr|- Green who nodded the ball in:
https://gfycat.com/glisteningcrisplcont
In the shoot-out veteran former Genoa and Milan midfielder Juraj Kucka (who fired high) and the young Georgian Giorgi Chakvetadze (Vacl|!k saved) missed for
Slovan, while only Pierre Kunde (also high) failed to convert for Olympiacos. In
the end, who else but Mathieu Valbuena to despatch the decisive spot kick.
So on (yet another) night to forget for Greece, Olympiacos as their last remaining team at least assured themselves of a place in a European group stage.
Main Path
* = seeded team
1. FC Slov|icko (CZE)* v FENERBAH|cE SK (TUR) 1-1 (0-0), 1-4 on aggregate (+aa+iinka 58'; Dursun 56')
With the tie already all but decided after the first leg not much happened in the first half, but after the break Serdar Dursun found his way past three defenders before surprising Slov|icko keeper Filip Nguyen at his near post:
https://gfycat.com/courteoussophisticatedislandcanary and the team from Uhersk|-
Hradi+it-c immediately got the equaliser through Ond+Oej +aa+iinka who bundled the
ball over the line after Fener keeper Altay Bay-#nd-#r had saved against Mich|il
Travnik:
https://gfycat.com/SneakyVacantDormouse
FK Partizan (SRB)* v AEK LARNACA FC (CYP) 2-2 (1-0), 3-4 on aggregate
(Gomes 24', 54'; Gyurcs|| 51', Faraj 57')
Cape Verdean striker Ricardo Gomes levelled the aggregate score with a goal on the break from a feed by former Leicester City flop Fousseni Diabat|-. Wild six minutes just after the break saw the Cypriots equalise when |Ud|im Gyurcs||'s low
cross turned into a shot that rolled in at the far post, Partizan taking the lead again thanks to Ricardo Gomes's header, and Frenchman Imad Faraj scored the
goal of the match with a great weaving solo run capped off by a curled shot into
the far corner:
https://juststream.live/CheerlessnessOnshoreFacilitator
Right after the game Partizan fired their coach Ilija Stolica, who had been in charge for just six matches (and only one win).
Draw for Europa League Play-Off (August 18 and 25)`
Winners go to EL group phase, Losers go to ECL group phase
* = Priority 1 (teams entering at this stage except Omonoia) - 6 teams
** = Priority 2 (teams eliminated in CLQ3 Champions Path) - 6 teams
*** = Priority 3 (winners of ELQ3 Champions Path) - 5 teams
**** = Priority 4 (winners of ELQ3 Main Path + Omonoia) - 3 teams
Priority 1 v Priority 4
SC Dnipro-1 (UKR)* v AEK Larnaca FC (CYP)****
KAA Gent (BEL)* v AC Omonoia (CYP)****
FK Austria Wien (AUT)* v Fenerbah|oe SK (TUR)****
Priority 1 v Priority 3
FC Z|+rich (SUI)*** v Heart of Midlothian FC (SCO)*
HJK (FIN)*** v Silkeborg IF (DEN)*
Malm|| FF (SWE)*** v Sivasspor (TUR)*
Priority 3 v Priority 2
Ferencv|irosi TC (HUN)** v Shamrock Rovers FC (IRL)***
Apollon Limassol FC (CYP)** v Olympiacos FC (GRE)***
Priority 2 v Priority 2
FC Pyunik (ARM)** v FC Sheriff (MDA)**
PFC Ludogorets Razgrad (BUL)** v FK ++algiris (LTU)**
Somehow Cyprus managed to have three teams in this.
--
Ciao,
Werner
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* Origin: SportNet Gateway Site (24:150/2)