Champions League play-off second legs highlights and round-up: Benfica, Club Brugge, Qarabağ and Copenhagen qualify

The 36-team line-up for the 2025/26 UEFA Champions League league phase is complete after Qarabağ, Benfica, Club Brugge and Copenhagen became the final four sides to qualify on Wednesday night.

We round up all the action from the play-off second legs.

Wednesday 27 August

Qarabağ 2-3 Ferencváros (agg: 5-4)

Qarabağ survived Ferencváros' fightback to book their place in the Champions League proper. Lenny Joseph broke the deadlock for the visitors on the night when he rounded off a neat move in the 12th minute. However, close-range finishes from Leandro Andrade and Abdellah Zoubir put the hosts back in control of the tie before half-time. Barnabás Varga's penalty and a superb Alex Tóth free-kick offered Ferencváros hope after the break, but Qarabağ held on.

Key stat: Qarabağ have secured their second appearance in the Champions League proper, the other coming in 2017/18.

Benfica 1-0 Fenerbahçe (agg: 1-0)

Benfica booked their place in the league phase with a narrow victory in Lisbon. Kerem Aktürkoğlu's crisp 35th-minute finish was the difference, powering his effort high into the net following Leandro Barreiro's ball across the box. Fenerbahçe came closest to levelling with just under 20 minutes remaining when Youssef En-Nesyri's looping header hit the bar, the visitors reduced to ten men late on after former Benfica forward Talisca was shown a second yellow card.

Key stat: As Águias have secured a spot in the Champions League proper for the 15th time in 16 seasons.

Copenhagen 2-0 Basel (agg: 3-1)

Andreas Cornelius’ header and a Youssoufa Moukoko penalty sent Copenhagen through in style and eliminated Basel. Gabriel Pereira, Magnus Mattsson and Jordan Larsson threatened a first-half opener for the hosts, who went ahead in the 46th minute when Cornelius glanced in an inswinging cross from the left by the impressive Elias Achouri. Goalkeeper Dominik Kotarski then made alert saves to stop strikes from visiting forward Moritz Broschinski and captain Xherdan Shaqiri before Moukoko's composed penalty sealed victory six minutes from time.

Key stat: Copenhagen have won all of their three home games in this season's competition without conceding a goal.

Club Brugge 6-0 Rangers (agg: 9-1)

Club Brugge cruised into the league phase with a commanding win over Rangers. Nicolò Tresoldi's early opener was quickly followed by a red card for away defender Max Aarons and the visitors never recovered. Hans Vanaken nodded in the second before a Joaquin Seys double and Aleksandar Stanković's effort made it 5-0 at the break. Christos Tzolis added a fine sixth shortly after the restart as the Belgian side eased through with plenty to spare.

Key stat: Club Brugge have now been involved in the league phase/group stage of the Champions League in eight of the last ten seasons.

Tuesday 26 August

Kairat Almaty 0-0 Celtic (aet, agg: 0-0, Kairat win 3-2 on pens)

Kairat stunned Celtic on penalties after 210 scoreless minutes to earn a place in the Champions League proper for the first time. Temirlan Anarbekov was the hosts' shoot-out hero, saving spot kicks from Adam Idah, Luke McCowan and Daizen Maeda. The goalkeeper replaced the injured Aleksandr Zarutskiy during last week's first leg in Glasgow.

Key stat: Kairat are only the second Kazakh side to qualify for the Champions League proper, following Astana in 2015/16.

Sturm Graz 2-1 Bodø/Glimt (agg: 2-6)

Bodø/Glimt secured their first appearance in the competition proper despite defeat in Klagenfurt. The Norwegian champions extended their 5-0 first-leg advantage 15 minutes in via Mathias Jørgensen's neat finish. Sturm Graz responded on the half-hour when Seedy Jatta nodded in from close range, and the hosts hit the woodwork via Jon Gorenc Stanković and William Bøving before substitute Tim Oermann sealed a consolation second-leg win.

Key stat: Bodø/Glimt are the first Norwegian side to reach the Champions League group stage/league phase since Rosenborg in 2007/08.

Pafos 1-1 Crvena Zvezda (agg: 3-2)

A wonderful late equaliser from Jajá sealed qualification for Pafos in their debut Champions League campaign. The visitors levelled the tie on aggregate on the hour, Mirko Ivanić's strike taking a wicked deflection to deceive Pafos goalkeeper Neofytos Michael. But just as the game looked set for extra time, Brazilian winger Jajá got on the end of Pêpê's free-kick with a deft first-time effort which floated into the net to delight the home crowd.

Key stat: Pafos become the third team from Cyprus to reach the Champions League proper after APOEL (four times) and Anorthosis Famagusta (once) and the first since APOEL in 2017/18.