UEFA Champions League Playoff Round: Day 1 Results
The UEFA Champions League Playoff Round began today with 5 games. 2 games were in the Champions Bracket while 3 games featured more prominent teams in the League Bracket.
Red Bull Salzburg 2 – 1 Malmo FF
Red Bull managed to score 2 goals in the second leg of last round to advance to this round. They beat Qarabag of Azerbaijan with an aggregate score of 3-2. Malmo has been in since the Second Qualifying Round and advanced to this round with a 4-4 aggregate score that was decided on away goals. They had to score two in the second leg to even bring it to the tiebreaker.
The Austrian side took advantage of home field advantage as Red Bull holds the lead going into the second leg that will take place in Sweden. After goals from Franz Schiemer and Jonathon Soriano for Salzburg, Malmo salvaged an away goal in the first leg with a 90′ goal from Emil Forsberg.
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Steaua Bucuresti 1 – 0 Ludogorets Razgrad
Bucuresti reached this round after winning the second leg, 2-1, to bring the aggregate to 4-3. They defeated Aktobe of Kazakhstan. Razgrad found themselves in a 2-2 aggregate draw after the second leg saw all of the scoring. Luckily for them, they were the away side and advanced on away goals scored. They eliminated Partizan of Serbia.
The home Romanian side received a huge boost from Alexandru Chipciu to give them the temporary aggregate lead. The goal was scored in the 88′ and will give them a lot of hope going into the next leg that will take place in Bulgaria.
Besiktas 0 – 0 Arsenal
Besiktas entered into this round after taking care of the Dutch Feyenoord with an aggregate score of 5-2. Arsenal entered into this round.
In the end, the game played to a scoreless draw and the Turkish side defended their home field to give them a chance to score a huge away goal in England next round. Alternatively, Arsenal will be pleased that they will have a level playing field to work with as they now return home to their fans.
Copenhagen 2 – 3 Bayer Leverkusen
Copenhagen earned a shot at entering the group stage of the 2014 UEFA Champions League after defeating Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk of Ukraine with an aggregate score of 2-0. Leverkusen entered this round as a seeded squad.
In the most back-and-forth game of the day, Leverkusen took a tremendous step to gaining access to the group stage with 3 away goals to their credit. After Bayer took the very early 1-0 lead, Copenhagen scored two unanswered thanks to Mathias Jorgensen and Daniel Amartey in the 9th and 13th minutes respectively. Goals by Karim Bellarabi and Son Heung-min gave the German side the lead by half.
The score held up that way and the two teams will meet again in Germany next week to decide the winners.
Napoli 1 – 1 Athletic Bilbao
Both teams entered into this round but Bilbao saw themselves as an unseeded team in the pool.
Not many gave the Spanish side a chance to take a goal, let alone a decision, with the Italians receiving home field. Napoli is a very talented side that traditionally plays exceptionally well at home. Bilbao struck first in the 41st minute with a goal from Iker Muniain to give the away side a huge away goal. Napoli limited the damage with a goal from Gonzalo Higuain in the 68′. Napoli continued to press to get the win but Bilbao hung on to have a decent shot at advancing as the second leg will be played in Spain.
Tomorrow will see 5 more games, 3 in the Champions Group and 2 in the League Group. The likes of FC Porto, Lille, and Zenit St. Petersburg will be in action tomorrow.