PARIS: Dynamo Kyiv’s unlikely bid to qualify for the Champions League ran up against a tough Benfica team that won 2-0 in Poland in the first leg of their playoff tie on Wednesday.

Dynamo’s fifth game in Champions League qualifying in the past month was played in the Polish city of Lodz, where Dynamo are in exile following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine that started in February.

Gilberto and Goncalo Ramos scored first-half goals as twice former European champions Benfica took a big stride towards qualifying for the lucrative group stage.

Red Star Belgrade, the 1991 European Cup winners, lost 3-2 away to Israeli champions Maccabi Haifa, who are hoping to reach the group stage for the third time after 2002-03 and 2009-10.

Haitian forward Frantzdy Pierrot struck twice for Maccabi as the hosts opened the scoring but then fell behind as Red Star replied with goals from Aleksandar Pesic and Guelor Kanga.

Pierrot equalised shortly after half-time and Tjaronn Chery grabbed the winner on the hour to give Maccabi a narrow advantage heading into next week’s return leg in Serbia.

In the other playoff first-leg game on Wednesday, Qarabag drew 0-0 with Czech champions Viktoria Plzen in Baku.

The second legs are scheduled for August 23.

Benfica started strongly and waited just nine minutes for a reward when Brazilian defender Gilberto overlapped in attack to score with a rising shot into the top corner.

Dynamo responded thanks to Viktor Tsygankov, whose effort forced Odiseas Vlachodimos into a smart save.

Roger Schmidt’s side had dominance in possession, while the Ukrainian side tried fast counterattacks. In the 24th minute, Joao Mario might have doubled the lead, but he missed the target.

Goncalo Ramos turned out to be more effective. Eight minutes before the break, the Portugal Under-21 forward, a transfer target for several teams, clipped the ball home after a surprising turn from David Neres.

In the second half, Benfica controlled the game to be more focused on defence. Ramos, who scored a hat trick in the third qualifying round against Midtjylland, was replaced by former Dynamo forward Roman Yaremchuk.

About 30,000 fans at Sammy Ofer Stadium in the northern city of Haifa saw Israeli champions Maccabi dominate in the opening minutes and score in the 18th minute through Pierrot, after a cross by Dolev Haziza.

Red Star recovered quickly, and evened the score in the 27th minute, after a shot by midfielder Aleksandar Katai hit his team-mate Pesic and confused goalkeeper Josh Cohen on the way to the net.

The visitors completed a turnover in the 40th minute from an accurate shot by Gabonese midfielder Guelor Kanga, after a pass by Ghanaian winger Osman Bukari.

But Maccabi equalised in the 51st minute, with a shot by Pierrot who completed a brace, again after a pass by Haziza.

Haziza also set up the winner in the 61st minute, with a pass to Surinamese midfielder Chery, who scored impressively from 18 metres ahead of the second leg in Belgrade.

Published in Dawn, August 19th, 2022