The field of participants for the soccer Champions League 2023/24 is complete: With PSV Eindhoven, FC Copenhagen and Royal Antwerpen, the last three teams qualified for the group stage via the play-offs on Wednesday evening. Eindhoven is back in the Champions League for the first time since the 2018/2019 season. For Antwerp it is the first time ever.
Eindhoven impressively took revenge on Glasgow Rangers 5-1 (1-0) for losing out in qualifying a year ago. As in 2022, the first leg between Rangers and PSV ended 2-2, but this time the Dutch clearly kept the better end in the second leg.
Ismael Saibiri (35th/53rd) put PSV ahead with a brace. James Tavernier (64′) made it back, but ex-Gladbacher Luuk de Jong (66′), Joey Veerman (78′) and an own goal by Connor Goldson (81′) made the final clear.
FC Copenhagen qualified by beating Polish champions Rakow Czestochowa 1-1 (1-0) in the second leg with ex-Hamburg player Sonny Kittel. Denis Vavro (35th) scored the 1-0 for the Danes, the equalizer by Lukasz Zwolinski (87th) did not help the guests after the 0-1 defeat in the first leg.
In the duel between the Greek champions and the Belgian champions, Royal Antwerpen also won the second leg at AEK Athens after a 1-0 win in the first leg. In the 2-1 (0-0) victory for the Belgians, Gyrano Kerk (73′) and Michel-Ange Balikwisha (90’+5) scored the goals for the guests. Sergio Araujo (90th) equalized in the meantime.
Galatasaray Istanbul, Sporting Braga and Young Boys Bern had already prevailed in the play-offs on Tuesday. The draw for the groups will take place on Thursday (6 p.m. / Sky and DAZN) in Monaco. For the last time, 32 teams will be divided into eight groups of four. From the 2024/25 season, the group stage will be replaced by a 36-team league system.
2023-08-30 21:34:38
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