Porto, Monaco, Celtic lead charge to group stage
Tuesday, August 23, 2016
Article summary
Porto, Monaco, Ludogorets Razgrad and – after scares – Legia Warszawa and Celtic are all through to Thursday's group stage draw after coming through their play-offs.
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- Porto, Monaco, Ludogorets, Legia and Celtic through to group stage after play-off wins
- Beaten sides transfer to UEFA Europa League group stage
- UEFA Champions League draw streamed at 18:00CEST on Thursday: pots so far
- Watch highlights of all five games in the video players
Roma 0-3 Porto (agg: 1-4)
Felipe's header put Porto in front on eight minutes and before half-time Daniele De Rossi became the second Roma player sent off over the two legs. Five minutes after the break his defensive replacement Emerson Palmieri was also dimissed, and the visitors made their two-man advantage tell in the last 18 minutes through Miguel Layún and Jesús Corona. Porto are in the group stage for the 21st time, a record they share with Barcelona and Real Madrid.
Monaco 1-0 Villarreal (agg: 3-1)
Monaco claimed victory on the night through Fabinho's added-time penalty to ensure a return to the group stage after a year's absence and scupper Spain's hopes of having five representatives for the second season running.
Viktoria Plzeň 2-2 Ludogorets Razgrad (agg: 2-4)
Michal Ďuriš's early volley gave the Czech champions hope but Virgil Misidjan soon got an away goal for Ludogorets. Although Aleš Matějů restored the home lead on the night, Claudiu Keșerü denied Viktoria even a consolatory victory, curling the ball in with the last kick.
Legia Warszawa 1-1 Dundalk (agg: 3-1)
A stunning Robert Benson volley halved Dundalk's deficit and then, with 23 minutes to go, Legia had Adam Hloušek sent off. However, Dundalk were not to earn the Republic of Ireland's group debut as Michał Kucharczyk scored in added time to book Legia's return, 21 years on from their previous appearance.
Hapoel Beer-Sheva 2-0 Celtic (agg: 4-5)
It seemed an impossible task to overturn a 5-2 deficit for Hapoel, especially when Maharan Radi's early penalty was saved. Yet a subsequent Radi corner was turned in by Ben Sahar and three minutes into the second half Ovidiu Hoban's opportunist finish further reduced their aggregate arrears. Celtic held on, though.
Wednesday's second legs
APOEL v FC København (0-1)
Salzburg v Dinamo Zagreb (1-1)
Manchester City v Steaua București (5-0)
Rostov v Ajax (1-1)
Borussia Mönchengladbach v Young Boys (3-1)
