Last season’s runners-up, Monaco, as well as Inter Milan, Liverpool and Deportivo reached the group stage of the Champions League on Tuesday.
Monaco hammered Slovenian side Hit Gorica 6-0, after winning the first leg 3-0. After a 1-1 draw at Swiss side Basel in the first leg, Inter Milan put on an impressive display to defeat Basel 4-1 and advance.
Liverpool lost 1-0 at Anfield against Austrian team Grazer, but still advanced on a 2-1 aggregate after the opening-leg 2-0 win.
Deportivo defeated Irish side Shelbourne 3-0 after being embarrassed two weeks ago in a 0-0 draw in Dublin.
The four were joined by Belgium’s Anderlecht and Norway’s Rosenborg. Anderlecht overcame a 1-0 away loss at Benfica, with a 3-0 victory on Tuesday.
Rosenborg and Israel’s Maccabi Haifa were even on aggregate after regulation time in Tuesday’s second leg. Rosenborg won two weeks ago in Norway 2-1 and the Israeli side was ahead 2-1 at home on Tuesday after 90 minutes.
In extra time, Rosenborg scored twice to win 3-2 and advance 5-3 on aggregate.
Ten more places in the lucrative Champions League group stage will be decided on Wednesday with Real Madrid and Manchester United likely to go through. Italian side Juventus has a tough task after playing a 2-2 draw two weeks ago against Swedish side Djurgarden.
At Brussels, Belgium, Anderlecht outclassed Benfica 3-0. Aruna Dindane scored on a header in the 35th, and then scored again with 20 minutes to play. Nenad Jestrovic scored a penalty late. The penalty came after defender Argel was ejected after knocking the ball away from an open goal with his hand.
At Monte Carlo, Monaco, Monaco cruised with a crushing 6-0 win over Slovenian side Gorica, advancing 9-0 on aggregate. Monaco, runners-up in the Champions League last season to Porto, had six different players score.
At Liverpool, United Kingdom, Austrian side Grazer defeated Liverpool 1-0. However, the win was not enough to overcome Liverpool’s 2-0 lead from the first leg in Austria. Mario Tokic scored for Grazer in the 55th minute.
At La Coruna, Spain, Spain winger Victor Sanchez struck two spectacular second-half goals as Deportivo overcame Ireland’s Shelbourne 3-0. The Spaniards were semifinalists last season.
Uruguayan striker Walter Pandiani added Deportivo’s third goal.
At Milan, Italy, Brazilian striker Adriano scored two goals and set up another for Dejan Stankovic as Inter Milan thrashed FC Basel 4-1, advancing 5-2 on aggregate. Alvaro Recoba scored Inter’s other goal.
At Ramat Gan, Israel, Norway’s Rosenborg scored three late goals — two in extra time — to defeat Maccabi Haifa 3-2. The Norwegians advanced 5-3 on aggregate. — Sapa-AP