LONDON, Aug 28: Ajax Amsterdam, Lazio and Olympique Marseille booked their places in the money-spinning Champions League group stage on Wednesday, but there was heartbreak for Borussia Dortmund and Newcastle United.
Ajax scraped into Thursday’s 32-team draw (1400 GMT) with a 2-1 ‘silver goal’ win over Graz AK, Lazio secured a 4-1 aggregate win over Benfica and Marseille drew 0-0 on the night with Austria Vienna for a 1-0 victory over two legs.
However Dortmund and Newcastle both lost dramatically on penalties, to Club Bruges and Partizan Belgrade respectively, in their third qualifying round second leg ties.
Rangers and Celtic both made it into the Champions League group phase, a first for Scottish football.
Ajax, one of five former European champions in action, squeaked through with a ‘silver goal’ in extra time from Tomas Galasek from the penalty spot against nine-man Graz AK.
Deadlocked at 1-1 on the night after 90 minutes and 2-2 on aggregate, the Austrians had Gregor Potscher and Anton Ehmann dismissed in extra time — the latter for the handball in the area that gave Ajax their match-winning spot kick.
Graz, like all the losing sides on Tuesday and Wednesday, now head for the UEFA Cup first round.
Their pulsating finale came in sharp contrast to Lazio’s 1-0 victory over former champions Benfica in Portugal after a 3-1 win in Rome. Brazilian defender Cesar headed the goal for the Italian club, who won 1999 European Cup Winners Cup.
A goalless draw was enough for Marseille, the 1993 champions, after their 1-0 first-leg win at Austria Vienna.
By contrast, 1997 champions Dortmund were stunned by their surprise exit to Club Bruges, having turned around their 2-1 away leg defeat with a win by the same scoreline at home.
Extra time failed to provide Matthias Sammer’s side with a winner and Bruges won the shootout 4-2.
Dortmund president Gerd Niebaum told Germany’s ZDF television: “Penalty shootouts are always a lottery. It’s certainly a shame ... but I think the fans can be proud of the effort made by the players.”
There was similar drama at St James’ Park, where Bobby Robson’s Newcastle squandered a 1-0 lead from the first leg, with Ivica Iliev steering the ball home in the 50th minute for Partizan.
That sent the tie to a goalless extra time and then eventually sudden-death penalties with the visitors winning 4-3 after Aaron Hughes missed and Milivoje Cirkovic converted.
Partizan’s German coach Lothar Matthaeus said: “The whole nation will be happy with our achievement, not just the players and the coaches.
Rangers, who could only draw 1-1 with FC Copenhagen at Ibrox in the first leg, snatched a 2-1 away victory in the return with a winner four minutes from time from Georgian striker Shota Arveladze.
Rangers went ahead through a penalty from Spaniard Mikel Arteta before an 83rd minute strike by Alvaro Santos looked to have earned the Danes extra time.
Celtic, the 1967 European Cup winners, were racing certainties after winning 4-0 away to MTK Budapest. They settled for a 1-0 win on the night with Chris Sutton’s early strike.
AEK Athens overturned a 1-0 first leg defeat by Grasshoppers with a 3-1 victory on the night. All three of the Greek side’s goals came in the first half.
Galatasaray, Turkey’s 2000 UEFA Cup winners, went through in similar comfort with a repeat of their 3-0 first leg win over CSKA Sofia.
Champions League third qualifying round collated results:
Lokomotiv Moscow 3 Shakhtar Donetsk 1
First leg: 0-1; Lokomotiv Moscow win 3-2 on aggregate
CSKA Sofia 0 Galatasaray 3
First leg: 0-3; Galatasaray win 6-0 on aggregate
FC Copenhagen 1 Rangers 2
First leg: 1-1; Rangers win 3-2 on aggregate
AEK Athens 3 Grasshoppers 1
First leg: 0-1; AEK Athens win 3-2 on aggregate
Celtic 1 MTK Budapest 0
Dinamo Zagreb 0 Dynamo Kiev 2
First leg: 1-3; Dynamo Kiev win 5-1 on aggregate
Slavia Prague 2 Celta Vigo 0
Olympique Marseille 0 Austria Vienna 0
First leg 1-0; Olympique Marseille win 1-0 on aggregate
Ajax Amsterdam 2 Graz AK 1 - after extra time silver goal
First leg 1-1: Ajax Amsterdam win 3-2 on aggregate
Borussia Dortmund 2 Club Bruges 1 - after extra time
First leg: 1-2; Aggregate: 3-3; Club Bruges won 4-2 on penalties
Newcastle United 0 Partizan Belgrade 1 - after extra time
First leg: 1-0; Aggregate: 1-1; Partizan Belgrade won 4-3 on penalties
Benfica 0 Lazio 1
First leg: 1-3; Lazio win 4-1 on aggregate