Hapoel Beer Sheva eliminated Crvena zvezda Belgrade on Tuesday, August 11, as ten teams advanced to the Champions League qualifying play-off round. The ten advancing clubs secured guaranteed places in at least the Europa League league phase.
Hapoel Beer Sheva defended a one-goal first-leg advantage by beating favored Crvena zvezda 2-0 in Belgrade for a 3-0 aggregate victory. Zlatanović scored in the 61st minute and East added a second in the 79th minute against a Serbian side that finished shorthanded. Hapoel will face Sabah Baku in the fourth round. Sabah Baku, featuring Polish player Tymoteusz Puchacz, defeated Aarhus 4-0 with goals from Simić in the 59th minute, Solvet in the 67th, Mickels in the 78th, and Severina in the 89th for a 5-2 aggregate win.
Dutch side NEC Nijmegen created a sensation by eliminating Olympiacos 2-1 on aggregate following a 0-0 first-leg draw. El Kaabi scored for Olympiacos in the 46th minute, but Linssen leveled in the 70th minute and Mor netted in the 95th minute for a 2-1 victory. Thirty-seven-year-old Serbian player Dušan Tadić, who once led Ajax to the Champions League semi-finals, was a key figure for Nijmegen.
Fenerbahce and Slovan Bratislava results
Fenerbahce, who previously eliminated Górnik Zabrze, won 1-0 away against Sturm Graz thanks to a 66th-minute penalty from Talisca, who also scored against Górnik. The result completed a 3-0 aggregate victory for the Turkish team and left Sturm Graz striker Szymon Włodarczyk on the bench throughout the match. Slovan Bratislava, managed by Yaya Touré and featuring former Śląsk Wrocław players Alen Mustafić and Peter Pokorný, beat Mjallby 2-0 with goals from Camara in the 47th minute and Yirajang in the 78th minute to win 4-1 on aggregate.
Slovenian club NK Celje advanced 3-2 on aggregate after defeating Ararat-Armenia 2-0 with late strikes from Dukuly in the 83rd minute and Benjamin Verbić in the 85th minute. Celje features injured defender Łukasz Bejger alongside former Ekstraklasa players Leonardo Koutris, Artemijus Tutyškinas, and Verbić. Lyon overturned a first-leg deficit to beat Sparta Prague 3-0 through goals from Nuamah in the 20th minute, Maitland-Niles in the 66th, and Morton in the 73rd, advancing 4-2 on aggregate. Sparta player Adam Ševínský was sent off, while former Raków Częstochowa striker Jonatan Brunes played 64 minutes for the Czech team.
Remaining qualification scores and play-off pairings
Bodo/Glimt needed extra time to eliminate Royale Union Saint-Gilloise 6-5 on aggregate after winning 3-2 on Tuesday. Blomberg scored in the 51st minute, Hauge in the 76th, and Helmersen in the 117th for the Norwegians, while Guilherme Smith scored in the 61st minute and Fuseini in the 88th for the Belgian side. Dinamo Zagreb beat Žalgiris Kaunas 2-1 with goals from Kačavenda in the 19th minute and Mišić in the 30th minute, despite a 56th-minute goal from Debuljah, to win 7-1 on aggregate. Levski Sofia beat Kairat Almaty 1-0 on Reinaldo's 13th-minute goal, securing a 2-0 aggregate win and ensuring Kairat failed to repeat last year's result after losing both matches 0-1.
The fourth round play-off pairings are Levski Sofia versus AEK Athens, Celtic versus LASK Linz, Dinamo Zagreb versus Viking, Slovan Bratislava versus Celje, Hapoel Beer Sheva versus Sabah Baku, Fenerbahce versus Olympique Lyon, and NEC Nijmegen versus Bodo/Glimt.
