LONDON: Welsh domestic treble winners The New Saints FC beat Faroese champions B36 Torshavn 2-1 with a last-gasp goal on Wednesday to conclude the first legs of the opening round of Champions League qualifying.

Hans Pauli Samuelsen opening the scoring in the seventh minute for hosts B36 in the Faroese capital Torshavn but TNS equalised minutes later through Scott Quigley before Michael Wilde grabbed a 90th-minute winner.

On Tuesday, Vardges Satumyan scored the first goal of this season’s Champions League qualifiers for Armenian side FC Pyunik in their 2-1 victory against San Marino’s Folgore.

The teams are competing for the chance to face Molde in the next round and Satumyan put the Armenian hosts ahead in first-half stoppage-time.

Cesar Romero came on for the second half and wasted little time in adding his own name to the scoresheet — putting Pyunik 2-0 up in the 48th minute.

Folgore subsequently had Fabio Ceschi sent off for a second bookable offence in the 71st minute, but Adolfo Hirsch reduced the deficit with a valuable away goal within a minute.

Gibraltar’s Lincoln Red Imps failed to make home advantage count as it drew the first leg of their qualifier for the second successive season — held 0-0 by FC Santa Coloma of Andorra.

Meanwhile, it was also goalless between Crusaders and Estonian opponents Levadia Tallinn in Belfast.

Eight teams compete in the opening qualification round with the second legs due to be played on July 7 and 8. The second, third and playoff rounds are scheduled for July and August.

Barcelona, the defending champions having beaten Juventus 3-1 last month, will be among the favourites when the group stage begins in September with 32 teams split into eight groups.

The San Siro in Milan will host this season Champions League final in May 2016.

Published in Dawn, July 3rd, 2015

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