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Lille and Red Star Belgrade seal Champions League spots

football28 August 2024 22:11| © AFP
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Lille clung on to secure a Champions League place despite a 2-1 loss on Wednesday to Slavia Prague, with Red Star Belgrade and Slovan Bratislava also qualifying for the expanded 36-team tournament.

Czech side Slavia won the return leg courtesy of goals from Christos Zafeiris and Ivan Schranz, but Edon Zhegrova's strike was enough to send Lille through 3-2 on aggregate in Prague.

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.

Red Star, the 1991 European champions, won 2-0 at home to Bodo/Glimt to overturn a first-leg deficit and progress 3-2 overall. Bruno Duarte scored from the spot before Uros Spajic headed in the second.

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.

Marko Tolic struck twice as Slovan came from 2-1 down on the night to win 3-2 in Bratislava, with Tigran Barseghyan's 86th-minute goal sealing a thrilling 4-3 aggregate victory over the Danes.

Dinamo Zagreb eased into the new-look league phase following a 2-0 win in Baku that completed a 5-0 demolition of Qarabag over two legs.

The draw for the Champions League takes place in Monaco on Thursday, with the format having radically changed this season and no longer featuring eight groups of four teams.

The tournament will now include 36 clubs with everyone playing eight matches, but all teams pooled together into one giant league rather than in groups.

Clubs will still be split into four seeded pots of nine teams, with every participant given two opponents from each pot.

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