Greece’s representatives in the European football competitions continue their journey.

After Olympiacos made it through to the next round of the UEFA Champions League qualifiers last Tuesday against Plzen, this time it was Aris and Atromitos that ensured their positions within the next round of the Europa League.

The team from Thessaloniki continued where they left off from last week against AE Limassol, creating several opportunities but failing to capitalise on them.

Eventually though, something had to give, and it came from a successfully converted penalty kick by Nicolas Diguiny on the 14th minute.

The spot kick was awarded by the referee after Nigerian striker Brown Ideye pinched the ball from the keeper who was forced to bring him down. Yet, the more George Pantelidis’ men couldn’t find a second and put the game to rest, the closer to danger they would come.

And they did on the 38th minute, when Texeira’s header after a corner kick bounced off the post. Both teams created several opportunities during the rest of the encounter but neither of them was able to hit the target, with the home side being reduced to ten men due to Godai’s dismissal on the 83rd.

And so, Aris will advance to the third qualifying round, where they will meet Norwegian side Molde.

Atromitos on the other hand, already had their 1-2 away victory to fall back on.

Giannis Anastasiou’s players walked into the pitch looking confident and created one opportunity after the next.

They opened the score after 22 minutes with left back Katranis, who found the loose ball in the area and moved wonderfully to put it past Jedlicka.

The second came just six minutes later, when winger Manousos attempted to dribble his way into the box but was brought down by the opposition defence.

He took it upon himself to take the penalty kick and made no mistake.

The home side had more chances to score a third and put the game to rest before half time, yet couldn’t make the most of them, but even so, the 2-0 lead at half time had them looking good.

As the teams came out for the last 45 minutes of the tie, the visiting team decided to put the pressure on Atromitos and go all out.

They began their comeback on the 52nd minute, when a cross from the left was cleared poorly by Katranis, ending up at the feet of Ramirez who was left face-to-face with a helpless Balasz Megyeri.

The Slovakians continued to hold onto the ball and the equaliser eventually came from a penalty kick by Kalmar on the 72nd.

And just when the visitors began to get their hopes up about scoring some more goals and making it through to the next round, along came Spyros Risvanis just four minutes later to capitalise on a free kick by Javier Umbides and head the ball home, putting all doubts regarding who was the better team to rest.

After that, the visitors went all out to attack, giving Atromitos more than enough space on the counter, yet despite the many chances on both sides, no other goals were scored.

The Greek side will have a difficult challenge in the next round against Polish club Legia Warsaw.