LONDON: Athletic Bilbao took advantage of shambolic defending to beat Napoli 3-1 on Wednesday and reach the Champions League group stage for the first time in 16 years, leaving the Italians counting the cost of their premature exit following their 4-2 defeat on aggregate.

A goal by Chilean star Alexis Sanchez — his first goal since joining from Barcelona last month — saw Arsenal qualify for a 17th successive season with a nervy 1-0 win at home to plucky Besiktas for an aggregate victory by the same scoreline.

Swedish champions Malmo made it for the first time with a 3-0 win over Salzburg to advance 4-2 on aggregate while Bulgarians Ludogorets Razgrad also reached the group stage for the first time when a defender saved two penalties in a shootout after the team’s goalkeeper was sent off late in extra time.

Ludogorets centre back Cosmin Moti, forced to go in goal after Vladislav Stoyanov was sent off with the match locked at 1-1 on aggregate in extra-time, scored the first penalty in the shootout before returning to the goal-line to make crucial saves to deny Paul Pirvulescu and Cornel Rapa as his team beat Steaua Bucharest 6-5 in a shootout.

There was no shock in Germany, with forgotten German striker Stefan Kiessling scoring twice to help Bundesliga side Bayer Leverkusen storm past FC Copenhagen 4-0 after winning 3-2 away.

Napoli’s defensive nightmare will prove expensive as the group stage earned them around 38 million euros (50.14 million US dollar) last season in appearance fees, performance bonuses and television rights.

It will also pile pressure on coach Rafael Benitez, whose expensively-assembled side did the bare minimum expected of them last season by finishing third in Serie A and winning the Italian Cup.

Held 1-1 at home last week, Napoli survived a difficult first half before taking the lead immediately after halftime when Marek Hamsik collected a headed clearance on the edge of the area and scored with a low shot into the corner.

But it all went wrong when Bilbao struck back with three goals in 13 minutes.

Aritz Arduiz scored twice — aided by some woeful Napoli defending — and Ibai Gomez drilled in the third to stun Benitez, who won the 2005 Champions League with Liverpool, and seal Bilbao’s place in the group stage for the first time since 1998/99.

Bilbao’s victory highlights how the balance of power in European club football has shifted as Italy’s strength has waned and leaves only two Italian representatives in the competition, champions Juventus and runners-up AS Roma.

“We took the lead, but in a few minutes we made some significant mistakes and lost control of the game,” Benitez told Sport Mediaset. “We knew it could end up like this, we are all disappointed, but we have to look forward.”

At the Emirates Stadium, Arsenal squeezed past Besiktas in a tense and absorbing contest when Sanchez slotted home a loose ball in first-half stoppage time.

Besiktas, held 0-0 in the first leg, were always menacing and a nervy Arsenal had to sweat it out after Mathieu Debuchy was sent off in the 75th minute for a second booking.

“It is a weight off our shoulders now because we can focus on the Premier League, wait for the draw,” Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said. “We feel we have done the job and we have a clear conscience.”

His Besiktas counterpart, the former Croatia national handler Slaven Bilic will have to content himself with the Europa League.

“Of course we are gutted, because we played good in both games and are close to qualifying for the Champions League against great opponents,” Bilic told Sky Sports.

“Those couple of chances we had to score, but we didn’t. Congratulations to Arsenal. They had the experience and quality up front when needed.”

Published in Dawn, August 29th, 2014