Former Champions Cup winners Real Madrid, Manchester United, Juventus and PSV Eindhoven all advanced to the group stage of the Champions League on Wednesday after getting through the competition’s third qualifying round.
Juventus were the only one of the four that looked in danger of flopping after a 2-2 draw at home in the first leg, but a dominating performance on Wednesday gave the Italian giants a 4-1 win over Djurgarden and a 6-3 aggregate win.
Others reaching the group phase include Bayer Leverkusen, Rangers, Dynamo Kiev, Shakhtar Donetsk, Maccabi Tel Aviv and Sparta Prague.
Madrid, who have won Europe’s premier club competition a record nine times, beat Wisla Krakow 3-1 and 5-1 on aggregate. Ronaldo scored two goals for the Spanish powerhouse and Francisco Pavon added the third. Damian Gorawski scored for Wisla.
Man United got a pair of goals from Alan Smith and another from David Bellion to blank Dinamo Bucharest 3-0 and advance 5-1 on aggregate.
Juventus, who last won the title in 1996 but also reached the final in 2003, got two goals from David Trezeguet and one each from Alessandro del Piero and Pavel Nedved.
The Turin powerhouse finished a disappointing third in the Serie A last season behind AC Milan and AS Roma.
PSV crushed Red Star Belgrade 5-0 to win their series 7-3 on aggregate. Mark van Bommel scored two of the goals, while DaMarcus Beasley, John de Jong and Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink added the others.
”We had them well in our grip,” PSV coach Guus Hiddink said. ”We played as a team and showed our best side.”
Red Star played most of the match with just 10 men because Milan Bisevac was red-carded in the 29th minute for fouling Beasley.
Leverkusen advanced with a 6-2 aggregate win despite losing 2-1 to Banik Ostrava on Wednesday. Michal Papadopulos and Libor Zurek scored for Ostrava, while Dimitar Berbatov struck for the German team.
Vagner Love scored CSKA Moscow’s only goal as the Russians held Rangers to a 1-1 draw and advanced 3-2 on aggregate.
Dynamo Kiev also advanced, beating Trabzonspor 2-0 and 3-2 on aggregate. Goran Gavrancic and Diogo Rincon scored for the Ukrainians.
Shakhtar came into their match at FC Brugge with a three-goal lead. A 2-2 draw sent them to the next round with a 6-3 aggregate win.
Zvonimir Vukic scored a pair of goals for the Ukrainian team, while Nastja Ceh got both for Brugge.
Liran Cohen scored the lone goal as Maccabi Tel Aviv topped PAOK Thessaloniki 1-0 to advance 4-0 on aggregate. The Israeli team are just the second to reach the group stage of the Champions League after Maccabi Haifa in 2002.
Sparta needed extra time sink Ferencvaros 2-0 and 2-1 on aggregate. Lukas Zelenka and Jiri Homola scored for Sparta, the second goal coming in the 114th minute.
On Tuesday, last season’s runner-up Monaco, Inter Milan, Liverpool, Deportivo de la Coruna, Anderlecht and Rosenborg advanced. — Sapa-AP