The Celtic of Glasgow, winner of the tournament in 1967, said goodbye to the Champions League by falling on Wednesday eliminated in the second previous round, surprised at home (1-2) by the Hungarian Ferencvaros. A goal in the 75th minute by Norwegian Tokmac Nguen condemned the Scottish team to defeat, which for the third year in a row they have failed to reach the group stage of the Champions League.
Despite the favorite poster with which the contest started, Celtic quickly found themselves on the ropes, after the early goal of David Siger, who overtook Ferencvaros at 7 minutes game with a powerful shot from outside the area. Celtic, who played a second European Cup final in 1971, did not give up, which allowed Neil Lennon's men to equalize the duel (1-1) eight minutes into the second half with a shot from the edge of the area by Ryan Christie, which surprised the goalkeeper of the Magyar team.
But when Celtic, winner of the last nine Scottish leagues, looked more for the rival goal, The final 1-2 came for Ferencvaros, led by the Ukrainian Sergiy Rebrov, with a brilliant counterattack led and finished by the Norwegian Nguen.
Who yes it will be in the third previous round is the Dutch AZ Alkmaar, who after forcing extra time with a penalty goal from Teun Koopmeiners in the 95th minute, finally beat Czech Pilsen 3-1 in overtime, in a tie that like all of this phase was played as a single match and without an audience in the stands.
The Swiss champion Young Bouys, who defeated Klaksvik of the Faroe Islands 3-1, suffered much less trouble., with goals, all of them in the second half, from Cameroonians Jean Pierre Nsame and Ngoumo Ngamaleu and Serbian Miralem Sulejmani. Nor did the Norwegian Molde fail, which beat Slovenian Celje 1-2, after coming back from the 1-0 adverse with which he went to rest with goals from Etzaz Hussain and Nigerian Leke James.
For its part, the Qarabag of Azebaiyán, in which the Spanish Jaime Romero plays, sealed his pass for the third previous round by defeating Sheriff Tiraspol 2-1, who could not overcome the expulsion of Cameroonian Anatole Abang at 37 minutes. The Omonia of Cyprus did not miss their numerical superiority either, winning in extra time 0-2 at Legia de Warsaw, thanks to the many by the Spanish Jordi Gómez, who opened the penalty score, and the Brazilian Thiago. Dinamo Zagreb had to resort to the penalty shoot-out, in which the Croats won 5-6, to defeat Romanian Cluj, in a match that ended with a 2-2 draw in regulation time.
Second qualifying round (August 25 and 26)
– Tuesday 25 August
PAOK THESSALONIKI (GRE) 3 – Besiktas (TUR) 1
Tirana (ALB) 0 – RED STAR (SRB) 1.
– Wednesday 26 August
AZ ALKMAAR (HOL) 3 – Viktoria Plzen (CZE) 1
Celje (SLO) 1 – MOLD (NOR) 2
QARABAG (AZE) 2 – Sheriff (MOL) 1
Suduva (LTU) 0 – MACCABI TEL AVIV (ISR) 3
Lokomotiv Zagreb (CRO) 0 – RAPID VIENNA (AUT) 1
Ludogorets (BUL) 0 – MIDTJYLLAND (DIN) 1
Cluj (RUM) 2 – DINAMO ZAGREB (CRO) 2 (5-6 on penalties)
DINAMO BFREST (BLR) 2 – Sarajevo (BIH) 1
Legia Warsaw (POL) 0 – OMONIA (CYP) 2
YOUNG BOYS (SUI) 3 – Klaksvic (FRO) 1
Celtic (ESC) 1 – FERENCVAROS (HUN) 2
Qualified for the third qualifying round
PAOK Thessaloniki (GRE), Red Star (SRB), AZ Alkmaar (HOL), Molde (NOR), Maccabi Tel Aviv (ISR), Qarabag (AZE), Rapid Vienna (AUT), Midtjylland (DIN), Dinamo Zagreb (CRO ), Dinamo Brest (BLR), Omonia (CYP), Young Boys (SUI) and Ferencvaros (HUN).