CSKA Sofia’s nine match unbeaten run in European competition came to an end as they were defeat 2-0 by FC Basel in Group E of the Europa League.

Luboslav Penev’s side fell behind at the twentieth minute when a long ball was chested down by Swiss international Alexander Frei before slotting past the advancing CSKA ‘keeper Ivan Karadzhov. The visitors made it 2-0 at the sixty-second minute as Carlitos’ cross from the right was headed in by Frei for his second of the night. Though the Army-Men began to show some attacking vision late they were unable to break through and the match concluded 2-0 in Basel’s favour.

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Following an opening match loss Salzburg, Lazio rebounded with a 4-0 devastation of Levski Sofia in Group G play of the Europa League.

After earlier attempts fell short, Francelino Matuzalem gave the hosts the lead midway of the half via Mauro Zárate’s provision. Zárate doubled the margin before the break as he sent in Tommaso Rocchi’s low cross. The visitors strode forward after the break but after falling short, Lazio went up 3-0 seven minutes past the hour as Pasquale Foggia played through Mourad Meghni to which he made no mistake. Six minutes later Tommaso Rocchi took advantage of the defending error, scooped up a misplayed long ball before scoring.

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Hungary’s Soproni Liga champions, Debreceni VSC, booked their place in the Champions League group stage with a 2-0 victory over Levski Sofia in the second leg of their tie.

Following the opening leg 2-l victory in Bulgaria the match returned to Puskás Ferenc Stadion (formerly Népstadion) in Budapest. After the visitors were unable to convert on opportunities, András Herczeg’s side opened scoring thirteen minutes in with Parisien-native Adamo Coulibaly’s provision to József Varga being driven from just outside the area. Gergely Rudolf brought the match to its final 2-0 score five minutes past the half-hour with a long distance effort to the corner.

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Litex Lovech pulled of an extraordinary upset in the opening leg of their playoff battle against BATE as they left Belarus with a 1-0 victory. The Bulgarian side grabbed with winner with eight minutes left as Sandrinho found the mark.

The deciding leg heads to Lovech on 27 August.

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After a difficult fallout in recent Champions League play, with much blame falling upon the the lack of experience in European play Andrey Kobelev’ Dinamo Moskva responded by holding CSKA Sofia to in a scoreless draw in Bulgaria. The result leaves Dinamo well positioned for the second leg of the tie next Thursday.

Known for their voracious support, Sofia was at their imposing best in a highly physical encounter. Though the opening half was shy of high probability chances, it was far from a modestly played forty-five minutes as both sides did not leave any ball unchallenged. Near the hour CSKA Sofia coach called upon his talented duo of up and comers, Spas Delev and Atanas Zehirov. The attacking duo, possessing bales of promises changed the pace of the match and Dinamo was fortunate that a effort by young Mr. Delev went wide in the final ten minutes. The match concluded without further incident at a scoreless draw and now waits for Thursday’s decider in Moskva.

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The third qualifying round of the Europa League completed with a number of stunning turnarounds. The successful sides will now head towards the next round with the draw being held on at 1.30 pm CET on Friday.

The biggest comeback of the day was that of Crvena Zvezda (Serbia), who advanced with a reaffirming 5-2 victory over Dinamo Tbilisi (Georgia), thus winning the aggregate 5-4. After an early Dejan Lekić own goal gave the visitors the lead early, Slavko Perović quickly squared the match to give the Belgrade faithful hope, though Mate Vatsadze’ strike restored Dinamo’s lead six minutes before the half-hour. However that was the end of visitors advances as Vladimir Petrovic’s side stormed back with authority and signaled that the legendary side, troubled and torn last year, was back. Dejan Lekić turned aside the own-goal error, scoring twice before that half to give Crvena Zvezda the 3-2 break at the half. Without a mark till theseventy-eight minute Carlos Mendes squared the match from the spot, setting up Lekić’s third goal as time ticked down for the win.

Steaua Bucureşti (România) throttled Motherwell (Scotland) 3-1 to cruise to a 6-1 aggregate victory. After the hosts took the lead with Ross Forbes seventeen minutes in the Roş-Albaştrii fought back via a strong showing after the break. Petre Marin scored from the spot ten minutes after the re-start with Bogdan Stancu finding the back of the net twice in the final thirty minutes.

Austrian football continued its rapid assent as Sturm Graz, Rapid Wien and Austria Wien all made it to the next stage of the tournament. After squeezing out a tough 2-1 opening leg win, Sturm Graz (Austria) devastated Petrovac (Montenegro) 5-0 to win the aggregate 7-1. Samir Muratović opened the scoring for Graz at half-hour, with Andreas Hölzl adding two along with Dominic Hassler and Manuel Weber’s mark. Rapid Wien (Austria) got past APOP / Kinyras Peyias (Cyprus) 4-3 in aggregate. With the Cypriot side in-front of the second leg at regulation 2-1, the match journeyed to extra-time with Christopher Trimmel winning it for the Austria’s with nine minutes remaining. Austria Wien came back from an opening leg loss to defeat Vojvodina (Serbia) 5-3 aggregate with a 4-2 triumph.

Ligue 1 LOSC Lille Métropole prepared for opening day with a 2-0 composite victory over FK Sevojno via Yohan Cabaye’s strike at the seventy-second minute and Túlio De Melo’s with five minutes left on the clock.

Israel’s Bnei Yehuda Tel-Aviv and Hapoel Tel-Aviv both advanced to the next stage of the tournament with impressive displays. Bnei Yehuda pushed aside Paços de Ferreira (Portugal) 2-0 in aggregate, duplicating its 1-0 opening leg victory via Elran Atar’s strike just past the half hour mark. Hapoel Tel-Aviv 4-2 aggregate win over IFK Göteborg (Sweden) was helped on with a 1-1 draw.

Despite winning the second leg 2-1 Fredrikstad (Norway) was no match for Lech Poznań (Poland), dropping the aggregate 7-3. Fellow Polish side Legia Warszawa will not be joining them in the next round as they were pushed out by Brøndby IF (Denmark), who advanced via the away-goal tie-breaker. KSP Polonia Warszawa will also miss out on the next stage as they lost 4-1 in aggregate to NAC Breda, dropping Thursday’s match 3-1.

On the avails of Metalist Kharkiv 2-0 victory today, they advance 4-1 in aggregate past HNK Rijeka (Croatia). Fellow Ukrainian Premier League side Metallurh Donetsk waltzed to a 5-0 aggregate after beating NK IB Ljubljana 3-0 in the second leg of their tie.

Odense BK (Denmark) overcame Rabotnički (Macedonia) 3-0 to win the aggregate 7-3. Peter Maduabuci Utaka struck twice after the break with a late Dragan Rodic own-goal.

FK Qarabağ (Azerbaijan) advance past FC Honka Espoo (Finland) 3-1 in aggregate with a 2-1 victory. In front of their home fans in Baku, Elvin Mammadov gave the hosts the lead a tad past the half hour mark. Quickly the Finns countered with Sampo Koskinen’s mark but without further incident the visitors were forced to through forward late, resulting in Rashad F. Sadygov’s strike with ten minute remaining.

AS Roma (Italy) easily won its tie over KAA Gent (Belgium) 10-2 in aggregate with a 7-1 brow beating.

FC Basel 1893 advance 5-3 in aggregate over KR Reykjavík (Iceland) with a 3-1 victory. Swiss Football supporters will not be pleased though as BSC Young Boys lost the second leg of their tie to Athletic Club Bilbao and will not advance.

Elfsborg defeated SC Braga (Portugal) 2-0 in the second leg of their tie via James Keene’s two first half strikes. The Swedish side advances with a 4-1 aggregate win.

Turkish sides Fenerbahçe and Galatasaray advance to the next step with easy going victories. Galatasaray’s 6-0 victory over Maccabi Netanya FC gave them a 10-1 aggregate victory while Fenerbahçe (Turkey) played Budapest Honvéd FC to a 1-1 draw, winning 6-2.

Elsewhere Tromsø IL (Norway) advanced past NK Slaven Koprivnica with a 2-0 (4-1 agg) second leg victory, CSKA Sofia (Bulgaria) moved past Derry City (Ireland) as their second leg match play to a 1-1 draw (2-1 agg). Greek side PAOK FC Vålerenga via the away goal rule and Fulham its tune-up for the start of the English Premier League with a 3-0 victory (6-0 agg) over FK Vėtra. Slovan Liberec defeated FC Vaduz 2-0 (3-0 agg) in the second leg of their tie whilst MŠK Žilina thwarted HNK Hajduk Split’s efforts with a 1-0 (2-1 agg) victory. MFK Košice defeated 3-1 (5-1 agg) Slavija Sarajevo (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Club Brugge KV (Belgium) moved past FC Lahti after playing to a 1-1 draw (4-3 agg). Hamburger SV (Germany) moved to the next stage of the tournament with a 1-0 victory (4-1 agg) over Randers FC (Denmark) in the second leg of their tie. Saint Patrick’s Athletic FC shocked Russian side Krylya Sovetov Samara to advance whilst PSV (Netherlands) yawned through another 1-0 (2-0 agg) victory over Cherno More Varna. SK Sigma Olomouc continued its humiliation of Abergeen to win the aggregate 8-1 with FK Sarajevo advancing past Helsingborg (Sweden) 5-4 on penalties.

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PSV’s debut in the Europa League fell far short of manager Fred Rutten’s plans to restore the Eredivisie to prominence as they edged Cherno More (Bulgaria) in the opening leg of their Europa League third qualifying round tie at Philips Stadion in Eindhoven.

The pale performance looked to be heading to a draw before Dirk Marcellis rescued a win in the ninety-third minute. PSV will need to improve in the second leg in Varna on 6 August or the Fred Rutten-era in PSV will start with bitter disappointment.

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CSKA Sofia edge Derry City 1-0 in the opening leg of their Europa League third qualifying round tie before their home fans at Vasil Levski National Stadium.

Luboslav Penev’s side had troubling finishing and could regret missed opportunities as the head to the deciding league in Ireland on 6 August. For much of the opening forty-five minutes the match was a box to box affair with only the most modest of chances. Following the break, the Sofia side came out with intent and started to press forward. An early venture by Marquinhos was denied, only to be followed up with poor final touches by Rui Miguel. The curmudgeonly visitors were finally broke down with thirteen minutes remaining as a Kostadin Stoyanov took advantage of a poor clearance before powering the ball to the back of the net from the edge of the area. The hosts continued to press for another mark but it was not to be and the match concluded 1-0 in favour of CSKA Sofia.

Following the second leg of their tie against Derry City, CSKA Sofia ready for the start of their PFG А campaign against Lokomotiv Plovdiv on 9 August.

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The opening leg of third qualifying round of the Champions League tie between İnter Bakı FK (Azerbaijan) and PFC Levski Sofia (Bulgaria) at Tofik Bakhramov Stadium in Baku, Azerbaijan ended in a scoreless draw.

After a tense opening, where both sides were under a tight defensive blanket, the Azerbaijan Premier League side began to slowly assert itself with a number of menacing assaults. Ten minutes after the break the host supporters were hushed as Amiran Mujiri’s free-kick was turned away by Sofia ‘keeper Georgi Petkov. Fortune smiled on the new Sofia manager, Ratko Dostanić manager, as in the final stages both William Rocha Batista and Fabio Luis Ramim were unable to convert on clear goal-scoring chances. Without a strike, the match concluded scoreless and now heads to the decider in Sofia on 4 August.

Cherno More (Bulgaria) advanced to the third qualifying round of the Europa League, defeating Iskra-Stal (Moldova) 3-0 in Tiraspol. Winning the aggregate 4-0 Nikola Spasov’s side will now face Eredivisie giants PSV, with the opening leg on 30 July.

After winning the opening leg 1-0 Cherno More headed to Moldova anxious to secure their spot in the next stage of the tournament. Miroslav Manolov continued his impressive goal scoring habit with strikes at the half-hour and nine minutes after the re-start. With the match never in doubt Daniel Georgiev made it 3-0 on the hour.

©Europa League News, 2009. All rights reserved.