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Champions League Play-Off Round – Tuesday Recap

Celtic have got their names in the Champions League draw, although they made life particularly difficult for themselves after losing 4-3 to Kazakh champions FC Astana yesterday. That saw them eventually qualify by an aggregate scoreline of 8-4.

But what about the other four fixtures that took place last night across Europe, lets take a look at the rest of the action across the continent starting in Spain as Sevilla edged past Turkish debutants Istanbul Baseksehir with a 4-3 aggregate victory.

The Spanish side took a 2-1 advantage from the first leg into last night’s return but would find themselves behind when former Southampton midfielder Eljero Elia but the visitors ahead. The Dutch player repeated his feat of scoring in the first leg to level things at 2-2 on aggregate.

But Sevilla would turn the tie on its head when they scored two second half goals. Firstly Sergio Escudero leveled proceedings on the night while Wissam Ben Yedder would then put Sevilla ahead with 15 minutes to go, that meant the Istanbul outfit would have to score two more goals to make the group stages.

Unfortunately though they could only find one more goal to level the score at 2-2, Edin Visca would score late on to set up a grandstand finish but they could not find a dramatic winner to dump out Sevilla. They will have to make do with the Europa League, a competition that Sevilla know very well.

Napoli booked their place in the group stages with a 2-0 win over Nice last night, already holding on to an advantage of the same scoreline from the 1st leg they confirmed their progress at The Emirates Riviera. After a goalless first half, Jose Callejon broke the deadlock just three minutes after the break.

The result on the night would be wrapped up just a minute before the end when reported Liverpool target Lorenzo Insigne doubled Napoli’s advantage. It is the end of the road for Nice and they will now struggle to keep hold of Jean Michel Seri as a consequence of not progressing to the next stage of the competition.

Olympiakos took a 2-1 lead to Croatia last night when they faced Rijeka, that would become a 3-1 aggregate scoreline when former Chelsea midfielder Marko Marin scored in the first half. That was all in terms of goals last night as the Greek champions move on.

And finally Hapoel Be-er Sheva will have to make do with the Europa League this season as they were edged out by Maribor on away goals after their tie finished 2-2 on aggregate. Mitja Viler’s goal on the quarter hour was enough to make sure that the Slovenian champions have their name in the hat.

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