Maccabi Tel-Aviv return, Malmö overturn deficit
Baku, August 26, AZERTAC
Maccabi Tel-Aviv are celebrating reaching the group stage for the first time in 11 years, while Dinamo Zagreb, Malmö, Shakhtar and Valencia also progressed as five play-off ties concluded, according to uefa.com.
Monaco 2-1 Valencia (agg: 3-4)
Elderson's 75th-minute follow-up effort was the winner on the night, but last season's quarter-finalists could not score again to take the tie to extra time. Àlvaro Negredo found the net inside five minutes for Valencia, who made the round of 16 in their most recent UEFA Champions League campaign in 2012/13. Their participation means Spain will be the first country to have five clubs in the group stage.
Shakhtar Donetsk 2-2 Rapid Wien (agg: 3-2)
Shakhtar forward Olexandr Gladkiy's equaliser to make it 2-2 proved decisive in a match where all the goals arrived in an 18-minute spell during the first half. Mircea Lucescu, presiding over his 200th European fixture as a coach, has guided the Pitmen into the group stage for the sixth consecutive season.
Malmö 2-0 Celtic (agg: 4-3)
Group stage debutants last term, Malmö will be among Europe's elite 32 clubs again. Both goals came from corners, Markus Rosenberg powering in a header midway through the first half and Felipe Carvalho glancing a 55th-minute effort towards the far post that went in off Celtic defender Dedryck Boyata.
Maccabi Tel-Aviv 1-1 Basel (agg: 3-3, Maccabi through on away goals)
Maccabi avenged their losses to Basel in the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League in 2013/14. Eran Zahavi, on target twice in the first leg, proved the Swiss outfit's nemesis once more, cancelling out Luca Zuffi's 11th-minute free-kick.
Dinamo Zagreb 4-1 Skënderbeu (agg: 6-2)
Three of the goals came in the opening quarter of an hour as Dinamo, last in the group stage in 2012/13, booked their place in Thursday's draw. The hosts had Gonçalo Santos dismissed early in the second half, but that did little to halt the Croatian side's momentum as Jérémy Taravel and, with his third of the tie, El Arabi Hilal Soudani added further goals.
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