Maccabi Tel-Aviv FC caused the big upset of the UEFA Europa League third qualifying round by knocking out Olympiakos on the away goals rule following a 1-0 second-leg win at the Bloomfield stadium. Aris, APOEL and Anorthosis also got through their respective ties, and will join AEK and PAOK in the draw for the Europa League Play-off round.

Maccabi Tel-Aviv (ISR)     1

Olympiakos     0

(Maccabi wins on away goals; 2-2)

Protecting a 2-1 lead from the first game at the Karaiskaki Stadium the previous week, the Reds looked in control for the first half hour.

Maccabi looked to have no answers to Olympiakos’s well organised formation but they gradually worked their way into the game and got the breakthrough before half time.

Trailing 2-1 from the first leg last week, Israel striker Colautti quickly won over his new fans following a summer move from VFL Borussia Monchengladbach by heading in Yoav Ziv’s cross three minutes before the break to fire his side through to the next round.

Despite having Dennis Rommedahl, Diogo, Kostas Mitroglou and Vassilis Torosidis attacking the goal in the second half, the Greek side never looked like scoring.
Poor final balls and a packed Israeli defence meant the visitors did not really create goal scoring chances.

A poor night for Olympiakos was compounded by the dismissal of Diogo. The defeat will no doubt raise questions about coach Ewald Lienen’s future. The German is not to the choice of new owner Vangelis Marinakis and a chance of manager is not out of the question.

“It’s an amazing achievement,” Maccabi Tel-Aviv coach Yossi Mizrachi said. Forward Barak Itzhaki added: “These are the moments players are born for.”

Aris 2

Jagiellonia Bialystock (POL)  2

(Aris wins 4-3 on agg.)

Aris made hard work of getting past Polish newcomers Jagiellonia Bialystock. The Macedonian side had a 2-1 lead from the first leg and looked certain to go through when Daniel Cesarec opened the scoring as early as the 20th minute.

Just six minutes later though, Ronaldo Guario scored an own goal to make it 1-1. A shock was on the cards in the second-half when Marcin Burkhardt made it 2-1.
But Cesarec scored from the penalty spot with 15 minutes left to ensure that Hector Cuper’s men will be in the play-off round.

Anorthosis (CYP) 3

Cercle Brugge (BEL) 1

(Anorthosis wins 3-2 on agg.)

Among the night’s notable individual performances was a Cafu hat-trick for Anorthosis Famagusta FC.

The Cypriot side were on their way out on the away-goals’ rule against Cercle Brugge KSV until the 32-year-old Cape Verde forward struck his third to complete a 3-1 win and a 3-2 aggregate triumph.

Among others through to Friday’s play-off draw are AZ Alkmaar, Besiktas JK, Juventus and Sporting Clube de Portugal.

The 35 winners are joined in the play-offs by the 15 defeated sides from the UEFA Champions League third qualifying round ties and the 24 sides that enter the competition at the play-off stage (including AEK).

Seeding for the play-offs are to be confirmed, with matches to be played August 19 and 26.