Olympiacos have extended their European ambitions after a thrilling victory against SK Slovan Bratislava, downing them dramatically on penalties to break the hearts of the home faithful.
The Piraeus giants beat the Slovak champions 3-4 on penalties following an epic 2-2 (aet.) away draw on Friday morning (AEST) in the second leg of their Europa League third qualifying round tie.
The Greek champions took the lead through an effort from winger Philip Zinckernagel (57′) which looked to be enough until the 90+4th minute when substitute Ivan Saponjic tapped in an excellent low-driven ball into the box following a corner to equalise.
The hosts were handed a late blow going into extra time, with centre half Myenty Abena suffering a second yellow (90+7′), and Olympiacos capitalised with a tap-in from substitute Aguibou Camara in the 100th minute.
The Slovak side heroically found yet another equaliser, this time from forward Andre Green’s header (108′) after a well-worked free-kick play to take it to penalties.
Olympiacos goalkeeper Tomas Vaclik proved to be the hero after pulling off a tremendous diving save to his left to keep out Giorgi Chakvedtadze’s spot-kick, with playmaker Mathieu Valbuena scoring the final penalty to set up a play-offs tie with Apollon Limassol.
Panathinaikos played out a hard-fought 1-1 home draw against Sparta Prague in the second leg of their third qualifying round tie, falling 3-1 on aggregate to be eliminated from the Europa Conference League.
The “Trifylli” had a much-improved performance compared to their first meeting, though it took them 57 minutes to break the deadlock, with left back Juankar delivering a fantastic ball across goal to Andraz Sporar who guided it in on the volley from close range (57′).
The Greens’ energy drained and eventually some sloppiness allowed substitute Vaclav Jurecka to equalise late for the Czech club (90+4′), stealing the ball and going around goalkeeper Alberto Brignoli to hit it into an empty net from an awkward angle (90+4′).
Aris emerged victorious in their second leg home match against Maccabi Tel Aviv, winning 2-1, but the effort was ultimately in vain as they fell 3-2 overall on aggregate to be knocked out of the Europa Conference League.
The Thessaloniki side were given a great boost when Maccabi midfielder Dan Glazer copped a red card (57′) for an offence in the box, with forward Andre Gray burying the subsequent penalty into the bottom right to bring his team into the tie (60′).
Substitute Eran Zahavi restored the Israeli club’s lead after scoring his one-on-one opportunity following a quick counter-attack (74′).
Aris midfielder Cheick Doukoure managed to creep the ball past goalkeeper Daniel Peretz to take the yellow-blacks back in front (81′) but that was all they could muster.
Apollon Limassol defeated Maccabi Haifa 2-0 at home on Wednesday morning in the second leg of their third qualifying round tie, falling 4-2 overall on aggregate to be sent down to the Europa League play-offs.
The Cypriot champions came alive after a phenomenal long-range strike from winger Hervin Ongenda sailed in off the right post (19′), and teammate Israel Coll followed suit with a powerful effort from the edge of the box (26′) to halve the deficit.
The hosts were unable to add to their score as they now prepare for a Europa League meeting with Olympiacos in the play-offs round.
AEK Larnaca secured a 2-2 stalemate in the away leg against FK Partizan Belgrade, winning 4-3 on aggregate overall to advance to the Europa League play-offs.
The Serbian outfit went ahead through striker Ricardo Gomes’, burying the ball into the left side of the goal with his one-on-one chance (24′) before forward Adam Gyurcso’s cross-field ball was deflected in off defender Svetozar Markovic (51′).
Gomes found the back of the net with a header to bring the sides level on aggregate but winger Imad Faraj produced a bit of magic, dribbling past four players and curling the ball into the top left (56′) to score the deciding goal of the tie for the yellow-greens.
AEK Larnaca will now meet SK Dnipro-1 in their bid to qualify for the Europa League group stage.
APOEL fought their way to a 0-0 away draw against FC Kyzylzhar SK on Thursday evening in the Europa Conference League, protecting their 1-0 lead on aggregate to progress to the next stage.