Playing for 90
Fansided

UEFA Champions League Playoff Round: Day 2 Results

By Thomas Formoso

facebooktwitterreddit

The last day of the first leg action for the 2014-15 UEFA Champions League is now in the books. Today, there were three matchups in the Champions Route while 2 matchups took place in the more prominent League Route.

Maribor 1 – 1 Celtic

Maribor earned a berth into this round with a 3-2 aggregate win over Maccabi Tel Aviv of Israel. They scored 2 away goals in the second leg and surprised the home side to advance. Celtic advanced under some crazy turn of events. Celtic lost the first leg to Legia Warsaw 4-1, but tied the aggregate by the end of the second leg. Celtic had actually lost the second leg, 2-0, but Warsaw was forced to forfeit the match due to fielding a suspended player. Celtic was then awarded the 3-0 forfeit win that tied the aggregate and they won on the 1 away goal they scored in Poland.

It was a near full house in Maribor, Slovenia as they saw their side come from behind to give them a fair shot at advancing to the group stage. In the 6th minute, Callum McGregor opened the scoring to give Celtic the away goal they may need. Maribor struck back almost immediately with a goal from Damjan Bohar in the 14th minute to tie the game up. The score would hold that way as the two sides will travel to Scotland for the final leg.

AaB 1 – 1 APOEL

AaB managed to score two away goals in the second leg of their matchup against Dinamo Zagreb of Croatia to win on aggregate, 2-1. APOEL defeated HJK of Finland with an aggregate score of 4-2 to reach the playoff round.

The side from Cyprus managed to steal an away goal in their away matchup against the side from Denmark. AaB opened the scoring in the 16th minute with a goal from Nicolaj Thomsen. APOEL would tie the game up in the 54th with a goal from Vinicius Oliveira Franco. The score held up at 1-1 and the two teams will meet in Cyprus on August 26th.

More from Champions League

Slovan Bratislava 1 – 1 BATE Borisov

The Slovakian Bratislava qualified for this round after taking care of Sheriff Tiraspol of Moldova with an aggregate score of 2-1. BATE advanced after a 90+4′ goal gave them the 3-2 aggregate win over Debrecen of Hungary.

In the third and final 1-1 decision of the day, Bratislava managed to score both goals. The first came on an own goal that gave Borisov a huge gift in the form of an away goal in the 44th minute. Bratislava managed to salvage the game and possibly the matchup with an equalizing goal in the 80th minute. Robert Vittek was the hero for Bratislava but the villain for the side from Belarus.

Standard Liege 0 – 1 Zenit Saint Petersburg

The Belgian side qualified for this round with a 2-1 aggregate total over Panathinaikos of Greece. Zenit qualified after they handily took care of AEL Limassol in Russia during the second leg to give them a 3-1 aggregate win over the side from Cyprus.

The game wasn’t a barn-burner but Liege did have a few great chances, especially at the end with a possible header equalizer that was botched by the Belgian side. Zenit did take the away goal and more-than-likely the series with the only goal coming from Oleg Shatov in the 16th minute. The two sides will meet again in Russia as the Belgians have a very tough task ahead of them.

Lille 0 – 1 FC Porto

Lille qualified for this round after they defeated Grasshoppers from Switzerland with an aggregate score of 3 to 1. FC Porto entered into this round and will have the benefit of a home second leg.

In one of the more marquee matchups of the playoff round, Porto took control of this matchup with an away goal to their credit and a 1-0 aggregate lead. Hector Miguel Herrera scored the only goal of the contest in the 61st minute to give the team from Portugal a great advantage to move on to the group stage.

All 10 matchups will conclude next week to determine the teams that will advance into the 2014-15 UEFA Champions League Group Stage.

Stay tuned to Playing for 90 for more European Football news.

Home/Champions League