PARIS: Lille clung on to qualify for the new-look league phase of the Champions League despite a 2-1 loss at Slavia Prague in the second leg of their playoff on Wedn­esday, advancing with a 3-2 aggregate win.

Red Star Belgrade, Slovak champions Slovan Bratislava and Croatia’s Dinamo Zagreb also booked their spots in the expanded 36-team tournament.

Coming into the return leg with a 2-0 cushion from the home game, Lille went behind five minutes into the game when midfielder Christos Zafeiris gave Slavia the lead with a first-time finish in Prague.

Lille winger Edon Zhegrova levelled in the second half before substitute Ivan Schranz restored the lead for the Czechs in the 84th minute.

Lille are the fourth French club to qualify but had to withstand heavy pressure in the closing minutes as Zafeiris rattled the crossbar before Matej Jurasek headed just wide in stoppage time.

Lille last secured Champions League football in 2021-22, when they repeated their best finish in the competition by reaching the last 16.

Red Star Belgrade, European champions in 1991, beat Norway’s Bodo/Glimt 2-0 to overturn a first-leg deficit and qualify with a 3-2 aggregate win.

Bodo/Glimt edged Red Star 2-1 in Norway last week but forward Bruno Duarte levelled the tie 26 minutes into the second leg from the penalty spot.

Captain Uros Spajic added the second goal for Red Star just before the hour mark with a header, denying the three-times Norwegian champions their Champions League debut.

Slovak champions Slovan, who started their European campaign in the first qualifying round in early July, reached the Cha­m­pions League proper for the first time after beating Midtjylland 3-2, with Tigran Barseghyan’s 86th-minute goal sealing a thr­i­lling 4-3 aggregate win over the Danes.

After the two sides played out a 1-1 stalemate in Denmark, first-half goals from Bratislava’s Marko Tolic and Midtjylland’s Aral Simsir saw them level at halftime in the second leg.

Forward Franculino Dju gave the Danish champions the lead five minutes after the restart, then Tolic struck again for Bratislava in the 82nd minute and Barseghyan sealed the win four minutes later.

Bratislava advanced to Europe’s elite club competition for the first time since the 1992-93 season.

Croatian champions Dinamo won 2-0 at Azerbaijan’s Qarabag earlier on Wedne­sday to qualify with a 5-0 aggregate victory.

Dinamo forward Marko Pjaca opened the scoring in the 32nd minute with an individual effort from just outside the box before Qarabag defender Matheus Silva netted an own goal after the break.

Dinamo triumphed 3-0 in their home leg last week with another opener from Pjaca and a late double from substitute Sandro Kulenovic, in what was the first game between the clubs.

Switzerland’s Young Boys, Czech champions Sparta Prague and RB Salzburg sea­l­ed their qualification on Tuesday.

Published in Dawn, August 30th, 2024