Subj : Re: Champions League 2021/22 Draw and (R) To : rec.sport.soccer From : Werner Pichler Date : Thu Jul 29 2021 07:08 am Champions League Second Qualifying Round, 2nd leg Teams in CAPITALS (except HJK) through to CLQ3, losers go to ELQ3 * = seeded team A bit disappointing to see absolutely no surprise results. -- July 27 Champions Path HJK (FIN) v MALM|u FF (SWE)* 2-2 (1-1), 3-4 on aggregate (Tenho 1', Ri. Riski 78'; Christiansen 10', Birman-ievi-c 76') Malm|| were playing with fire here. HJK centre-back Miro Tenho levelled the overall score within 40 seconds by heading in a corner kick, but thanks to some confusion in the Finnish box the reigning Swedish champions and current league leaders quickly equalised, again through their Danish captain Christiansen. HJK then had their chances to bring the result all square again, and were angry at seeing a robust penalty shout denied, but in the end they were too wasteful in front of goal. Serbian international Veljko Birman-ievi-c gave MFF the lead again with a nice run, one-two, and finish: https://media.giphy.com/media/vkJmXFFJHrqc5thBw7/giphy.gif and even though HJK immediately equalised again through Roope Riski's elder brother Riku, who latched onto a ball over the Swedish defence, the goal that would have sent the tie to extra time eluded them. FC Flora (EST) v LEGIA WARSZAWA (POL)* 0-1 (0-0), 1-3 on aggregate (Lopes 67') Cruel on the Estonians, who kept the tie wide open for the longest time, saw what appeared to be a regular goal called off for offside: https://gfycat.com/wearyadeptbuzzard and a minute later Portuguese forward (not defender, as I had written last time) Rafa Lopes tapped in the goal that guarantees Legia a group phase for the first time in five years (when they played in that memorable 4-8 in the 2016/17 Champions League against Dortmund). AC Omonoia (CYP) v GNK DINAMO ZAGREB (CRO)* 0-1 (0-0), 0-3 on aggregate (Menalo 79') UEFA keep forcing Cypriot teams to postpone kick-off until at least seven pm. I like it. In the end, an easy qualification for Dinamo against toothless Cypriots, and the Croatians even got the late winner thanks to Luka Menalo who flicked on Lovro Majer's free-kick: https://gfycat.com/flimsyhospitableleonberger FK ++algiris (LTU) v FERENCV|UROSI TC (HUN)* 1-3 (0-1), 1-5 on aggregate (Diaw 90'+3; R. Mmaee 44', 72', Mak 90'+4) Again both Belgian-Moroccan Mmaee brothers featured for the Hungarians (theirs is certainly a memorable surname), and it was younger brother Ryan who finished off the Lithuanians twice on the break. The two sides exchanging goals in stoppage time mattered only for the stats. -- July 28 Champions Path Neft|oi PFK (AZE) v OLYMPIACOS FC (GRE)* 0-1 (0-1), 0-2 on aggregate (Masouras 15') Mathieu Valbuena assisted a rather funny goal that left the Azeri defence recriminating each other: https://gfycat.com/embarrasseduniquehammerkop and that was enough for the Greeks. FC SHERIFF (MDA)* v FC Alashkert (ARM) 3-1 (2-1), 4-1 on aggregate (Dulanto 15', Luvannor 23', Thill 87' (pen); Gli+ii-c 10') For five minutes, the Armenians were level on aggregate, but Sheriff's Peruvian centre-back Gustavo Dulanto (their starting XI consisted of five South Americans, three Africans, a guy from Trinidad, a Luxembourger, and a Greek goalkeeper) headed in a free-kick and Brazilian striker Luvannor punished them on the break. Late on the Luxembourger also scored from the spot. FC CFR CLUJ (ROM)* v Lincoln Red Imps FC (GIB) 2-0 (1-0), 4-1 on aggregate (Cestor 18', Sigurj||nsson 58') Following a free-kick, Cluj's Congolese centre-back Mike Cestor pushed forward and swept the ball in for the opener: https://gfycat.com/importantconcernedandeancondor The Imps had two good opportunities to equalise, both prevented by last-ditch tackles, but R||nar M|ir Sigurj||nsson's awesome free-kick broke all remaining resistance: https://gfycat.com/handypreciousalligatorgar PFC LUDOGORETS RAZGRAD (BUL)* v N+a Mura (SLO) 3-1 (1-0), 3-1 on aggregate (Sotiriou 4', Manu 82', Cauly 90'; Horvat 64') Much more even than it would appear at first glance, despite Pieros Sotiriou firing Ludogorets into an early lead. Mura had a bunch of opportunities to equalise, and they finally did so through Tomi Horvat who swept in a low cross by ++iga Kous. With the tie on the edge, Mura had a lucky escape when Elvis Manu in front of the empty net got off only a weak shot that was scraped off the goal line, but two minutes later the Dutch-Ghanaian striker had no problems tapping in what turned out to be the winner. With the Slovenians pushing forward looking for another equaliser, the German Brazilian Cauly got a third on the break. BSC YOUNG BOYS (SUI)* v +aK Slovan Bratislava (SLK) 3-2 (2-0), 3-2 on aggregate (Siebatcheu 10' (pen), Garcia 24', Aebischer 49'; Kanga 60' (og), Henty 62') No matter what the rulebook says, this will always be a handball penalty, right? https://gfycat.com/readythoughtfulglowworm Slovan then were awarded a penalty themselves, but Rafael Rat|uo saw his effort saved by YB keeper Von Ballmoos. The Swiss subsequently took what looked like an inassailable lead, with Michel Aebischer's free-kick particularly noticeable: https://gfycat.com/easybriefermine but within three minutes Slovan were back in the tie, first YB new signing Wilfried Kanga deflected a cross past his own keeper, then the Nigerian Ezekiel Henty, a former Milan youth product, tapped in another centre. Three minutes from the end Vladim|!r Weiss sent a shot centimetres over the crossbar as the Swiss champions shakily held on to the win. FK CRVENA ZVEZDA (SRB)* v FC Kairat (KAZ) 5-0 (3-0), 6-2 on aggregate (Katai 9', 42', Diony 21', Ivani-c 49', Falco 56') Red Star steamrollered their Kazakh opposition, with Angers loanee Lo|>s Diony getting his first goal for the Serbians and Aleksandar Katai scoring a brace, his second also from a direct free-kick, the third one converted in this round: https://gfycat.com/forkeddownrightamericanbittern Kairat's 20-year-old goalkeeper Danil Ustimenko looked a bit unfortunate on all of these goals. In the second half Mirko Ivani-c and new Italian signing Filippo Falco finished Kairat off on the break. -- League Path FC MIDTJYLLAND (DEN) v Celtic FC (SCO)* 2-1 aet (0-0, 1-1), 3-2 on aggregate (Mabil 61', Onyedika 94'; McGregor 48') Even without creating a lot of opportunities, Celtic were the better team in the first half, and they took the lead immediately after the break thanks to a sumptuous volley by Callum McGregor: https://gfycat.com/likableringedguppy But out of nowhere, and just after Celtic had wasted a chance, Aussie Awer Mabil headed in the equaliser for Midtjylland: https://gfycat.com/onlysparklingbangeltiger and from that point on Celtic appeared to suffer from a severe bout of nerves. They managed to drag themselves into extra time as in the 93rd minute Victor Lind fluffed his free shot alone in front of Celtic keeper Bain, but Midtjylland only needed four minutes after the re-start to score the decisive goal, with young Nigerian Raphael Onyedika recovering from a stumble to emphatically hammer the ball in: https://gfycat.com/practicalacademicanemone Galatasaray SK (TUR) v PSV (NED)* 1-2 (0-1), 2-7 on aggregate (Diagne 84'; Madueke 37', van Ginkel 59'; Red Card: Boscagli (PSV) 74') Another convincing win for PSV, with the only bad news Olivier Boscagli's pointless two bookings in the space of eight minutes. Great finishes by English youngster Noni Madueke: https://gfycat.com/bravefluffyjay and - late consolation - Mbaye Diagne: https://gfycat.com/leftfloweryafricanmolesnake AC SPARTA PRAHA (CZE)* v SK Rapid Wien (AUT) 0-0 (0-0), 1-2 on aggregate (Moberg Karlsson 16' (pen); Pe+iek 81') Disappointingly poor performance by Rapid, with their keeper Strebinger giving away a stupid penalty for punching Jakub Pe+iek while going for a cross: https://gfycat.com/insidiousgranularhornshark and their only chance coming five minutes from the end when Dejan Petrovi-i could have sent the tie to extra time, but alone in front Florin Ni+c-a he shot straight at the Sparta keeper. -- Draw for Champions League Third Qualifying Round (August 3/4 and 10) * = seeded team Winners go to CLPO, Losers go to ELPO (and are guaranteed at least ECL group phase) Champions Path GNK Dinamo Zagreb (CRO)* v Legia Warszawa (POL) FC CFR Cluj (ROM) v BSC Young Boys (SUI)* Olympiacos FC (GRE)* v PFC Ludogorets Razgrad (BUL) FK Crvena zvezda (SRB)* v FC Sheriff (MDA) Malm|| FF (SWE) v Rangers FC (SCO)* Ferencv|irosi TC (HUN) v SK Slavia Praha (CZE)* League Path PSV (NED) v FC Midtjylland (DEN)* FC Spartak Moskva (RUS) v SL Benfica (POR)* KRC Genk (BEL) v FC Shakhtar Donetsk (UKR)* AS Monaco (FRA)* v AC Sparta Praha (CZE) -- Ciao, Werner --- SBBSecho 3.06-Win32 * Origin: SportNet Gateway Site (24:150/2) .