Swedish title holders Malmo advanced for a second successive season after Markus Rosenberg and a Dedryck Boyata own goal gave them a 2-0 home win over Celtic which a overturned a 3-2 first leg deficit.
Advertisement
Maccabi midfielder Eran Zahavi’s goal in the 24th minute at the Bloomfield Stadium secured his team’s entry to the main phase of the continent’s most prestigious club competition.
Unfortunately, it was not enough to see the French side into the group stages of the Champions League after losing 4-3 to Valencia over the two leg qualifiers.
On 42 minutes, Zuffi nearly cancelled out Maccabi’s away-goal advantage completely, but his close-range piledriver sailed just over the bar. The play-off then led to another string of Zahavi-led successes, and thus the team will be back in the Champions League for the first time since the 2004/2005 season.
Elsewhere Dinamo Zagreb, who had Goncalo Santos sent off, ended Skenderbeu Korce’s hopes of reaching the group stage for the first time with a 4-1 win in Croatia to go through 6-2 on aggregate.
In one of the games of the evening Ukraine’s Shakhtar drew 2-2 with Austria’s Rapid Vienna at the Arena Lviv.
Advertisement
Slavisa Jokanovic says Maccabi Tel Aviv have fulfilled a big dream after progressing to the group stage of the Champions League following a nail-biting second leg against Swiss champions Basle.
