After knocking down Olympique de Marseille in the third round of qualifying for the Champions League group stage, Panathinaikos was not far from foiling the odds again against Braga. As in the first leg (2-1), the Greeks, led by an untenable Sebastian Palacios on his right wing, jostled a Portuguese team carried forward but leaving a lot of space behind their back.
Artur Jorge’s men must have been happy to see the scoreboard still blank at the break. Panathinaikos dominated the first half and could have unlocked the game if they had shown more realism in front of goal, like Fotis Ioannidis, too short on the cross from Palacios (18th), and Georgios Vagiannidis , whose head was diverted by a tap from Matheus Magalhaes (45th).
Upon returning from the locker room, the match seemed to start on the same basis with a new decisive stoppage by the Brazilian goalkeeper against Palacios (54th). But Braga was able to turn around, before breaking free thanks to a perfectly negotiated and concluded counter by Armindo Bruma (0-1, 83rd).
3
This is Braga’s third participation in the Champions League group stage, after 2010-2011 and 2012-2013.
Carried by an Olympic Stadium in fusion, Panathinaikos continued to push and were not far from equalizing in stride on a triple opportunity (86th). Guilty of a dangerous tackle in added time, Juankar Perez let his partners finish the game at 10 and could only see the elimination of his team from the locker room.
Icardi offers qualification to Galatasaray
Already a scorer in the first leg, Mauro Icardi once again distinguished himself with Galatasaray by scoring a penalty in the seventh minute against the Norwegians of Molde (2-1). With an aggregate score of 5 goals to 3 over the two games, the Turks qualify for the Champions League group stage. In the third play-off of the evening, the Young Boys of Bern won at home (3-0, 4-1 to go) against Maccabi Haifa and continue their journey in C1.
