UEFA Champions League Play-off round up
It is one of the biggest events of the footballing calendar in the year and any participating teams are guaranteed a purse of 20 million pounds for taking part in the competition.
The draw for the UEFA Champions league will take place in the last week of August in Nyon but before that it still remains to be decided which teams will be in the pot.
The Champions League qualifiers are played according to the UEFA coefficient rankings with teams from the seeded countries separated from each other.
On Tuesday night the first phase of the play off matches were held and there were some mouth watering clashes, where Ajax were held to a draw by the 10 men of Dynamo Kiev. While Tottenham Hotspurs of England were just a hair breadth’s away from crashing out of the Champions League, without even playing the 2nd leg as Young boys from Bern took a 3-0 lead in 28 minutes but a late comeback saw Spurs pull two goals back and came home with the tie still delicately poised. Spurs only now need a 1-0 win at home to secure their progress into the group phase of the Champions League for the first time since 1962.
In the matches last night, German side Werder Bremen showed that the departure of Mesut Ozil from their ranks has not affected them one bit, as they brushed aside Antonio Cassano’s Sampdoria 3-1 at the Weserstadion.
The Italians were left cursing their fortunes at the draw a couple of weeks ago that saw them pitted against perhaps the most difficult team in their pot.
There was not much to choose between the sides, as both sides played a drab 0-0 first half and it was the start a new life for Werder Bremen, as they embarked on a journey without their talismanic midfielder Mesut Ozil.
Clemns Fritz broke the deadlock in the 5th minute of the second half with a stunning long range effort that was beautifully struck with the outside of his boot.
Torsten Frings made it 2-0 from the spot as Stefano Lucchini fouled a hauled Werder attacker to the ground from a corner and referee was left with no choice to book him again and award a penalty.
Claudio Pizzaro made it 3-0 in the 70th minute and the Tie looked all over for the Italians but Giampalo Pazzini gave the Italians just a glimmer of hope with an away goal in the dying stages of the match.
Celtic’s conquerors in the last round, Braga, went even better this time as they claimed an even fancier scalp this time around when the beat Luis Fabiano’s Sevilla 1-0 at Estadio AXA, Braga.
Matheus, who scored the winner against Celtic, once again stole the limelight as he once again popped up with a winner in the 62 minute to give Os Arsenalistas a massive advantage going into the next game.
In the other matches of the night, the Israeli outfit Hapoel Tel-Aviv also took control of their destiny as they beat Red Bull Salzburg 3-2 on the night in Austria.
It was a familiar face in Vincent Enyeama, the Nigerian goalie who shone so brightly at the world cup, was the one scoring for the visitors as he converted a penalty in the 3rd minute.
However, Nikola Pokrivac restored the parity in the 28 minute and then Ben Sahar made it 2-1 in favour of the visitors just before the break.
Itay Shechter made the score line safe for Hapoel but Salzburg hit back and got another goal through Roman Wallner from the spot and will now go to Israel believing that the tie can still be won with two away goals.
In the remaining play-offs of the night, Anderlecht and Partizan Belgrade played a 2-2 draw in Serbia, while FC Basel of Switzerland beat FC Sherrif of Moldova 1-0 in Switzerland.
Tags: