Champions League Roundup: PSV & Benfica Secure Qualification to UCL Group Stages
The last teams to make up the 32 sides in the group stages of this season's Champions League were confirmed on Wednesday night after the final round of qualifying concluded.
Dutch side PSV safely secured their passage through thanks to a relatively routine 3-0 victory over Belarusian team BATE Borisov, with Steven Bergwijn, Luuk de Jong and Hirving Lozano getting on the scoresheet.
Crvena zvezda, more commonly known as Red Star Belgrade, were looking down and out after falling 2-0 down to Red Bull Salzburg due to Moanes Dabour's double, but second half strikes from El Fardou Ben Mohamed and Milos Degenek saw them through on away goals.
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Portuguese giants Benfica smashed PAOK Salonika, with Jardel, Eduardo Salvio and Pizzi grabbing goals in a 4-1 victory, condemning Liverpool to Pot 3 ahead of the draw.
In Tuesday night's action, Ajax secured their return to Europe's elite club competition with a 0-0 draw at Dynamo Kiev, having won the first leg 3-1 through strikes from Donny van de Beek, Hakim Ziyech and former Southampton star Dusan Tadic.
Swiss side Young Boys overcame Dinamo Zagreb 3-2 on aggregate, thanks to Guillaume Hoarau's second half brace after Izet Hajrovic's seventh minute effort in a 2-1 win in Croatia.
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Greek giants AEK Athens secured their place after a 1-1 draw with Hungarian outfit MOL Vidi, having won the first fixture through goals from Viktor Klonaridis and Anastasios Bakasetas.
The draw for the group stages of this year's competition will take place on Thursday, with Premier League sides Manchester City, Manchester United, Tottenham and Liverpool set to learn their opponents.
City are currently in Pot 1, meaning they'll likely be presented with one of the more favourable groups, while United and Tottenham are in Pot 2 with Liverpool in Pot 3 due to Benfica having a higher coefficient ranking than Jurgen Klopp's side.
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They now could potentially face any one of Borussia Dortmund, Porto, Shakhtar Donetsk, Napoli, Roma or Benfica.
