Brown Ideye scored in extra time for Greek champions Olympiacos to go past Arouca 2-1 on aggregate into the group stage of the UEFA Europa League.
Olympiacos won the first game in Portugal 1-0, before Arouca avenged this loss with a 1-0 win in Greece for aggregate scores to be tied at 1-1 and so the game had to be decided in extra time.
The big striker has most certainly got his career back on track at Olympiacos after he failed to justify his huge transfer fee from Dynamo Kiev to West Bromwich Albion in the English Premier League.
West Ham Knocked Out
West Ham's European adventure was brought to an end before it had really begun.
The Hammers crashed to their first defeat at the London Stadium, a humiliating 1-0 Europa League play-off loss to Astra Giurgiu, thanks to a goal from midfielder Filipe Teixeira.
The Hammers crashed to their first defeat at the London Stadium, a humiliating 1-0 Europa League play-off loss to Astra Giurgiu, thanks to a goal from midfielder Filipe Teixeira.
It meant a 2-1 aggregate defeat to the team currently 11th in Romanian Liga 1, and no place in the group stage for Slaven Bilic's side who would not even have had to play the play-off match had they beaten Stoke on the final day of last season.
In other results, French side Saint-Etienne endured a torrid final 45 minutes at stade Geoffroy-Guichard after goalkeeper Stephane Ruffier was sent off on the stroke of half time for punching Beitar Jerusalem striker Itay Shechter.
The Israeli striker had collided with the French 'keeper with his studs showing in a seemingly genuine attempt to play the ball and Les Verts' Ruffier was appropriately sent off for his reaction.
Despite the red carding, Christophe Galtier's side were never really under threat and saw out a 0-0 Draw to progress to the group stages of the Europa League after winning 2-1 in Israel.
Italian side Sassuolo, who finished sixth in Serie A last year, qualified for the first time in their history for a European competition after a lacklustre 1-1 draw against Serbia's Crvena Zvezda. The Italians had done the bulk of the work last week, winning 3-0 at home.
Belgian side Anderlecht were another high profile team to progress to the next round after they despatched Salvia Prague 3-0 to complete a 6-0 aggregate win.
Greek side Panathinaikos also advanced to the competitions group stage after a 1-1 draw against Danish side Brondby. The Greeks had won the 1st leg 3-0 giving them an overall win of 4-1 on aggregate.
Turkish side Fenerbahce logically advanced to the group stages after outclassing Swiss outfit Grasshoppers. The Turks scored two second half goals through Fernandao and Miloslav Stoch to guarantee qualification.
The draws for the group stages of the competition will be held tomorrow.
See the draws for the champions league here in case you missed it
The draws for the group stages of the competition will be held tomorrow.
See the draws for the champions league here in case you missed it
This post first appeared on Wolexis Sports Blog | Nigeria's Online Sports Mag, please read the originial post: here
