Olympiacos travelled to Israel to draw 1-1 against Maccabi Haifa in the first leg of their UEFA Champions League Second qualifying encounter on Thursday morning (AEST).

Playing at the Sammy Ofer Stadium in Haifa, the Greek champions struck early through new signing Philip Zinckernagel.

The Dane who joined Olympiacos from Nottingham Forest on 24 June, reacted quickly to a rebound from the Maccabi goalpost that came off a thunderous shot delivered by the Red and Whites’ Brazillian centre forward Tiquinho Soares in the sixth minute.

Spurred by a passionate home crowd, Maccabi tested the Olympiacos goal for much of the first half. Twice they breached the Olympiacos goal only for them to be ruled offside.

In the second half, Maccabi’s Frantzdy Pierrot (Haiti) hit the underside the Greek goal post only for it to bounce out of harm’s way.

It took a freakish goal, a backward kick from Dolev Haziza that floated into the top right-hand corner of goal, to give the home side the draw in the second minute of stoppage time. Haziza threw his shirt into the crowd in celebration and a minute later gestured to the crowd to give it back.

The Round 2 match will take place at the Karaiskakis Stadium at 5 am (AEST) on Thursday, 28 July.

On Wednesday, AEK Larnaca travelled to Denmark to take on FC Midtjylland at the MCH Arena in Herning for their UEFA Champions League Second qualifying round 1 fixture.

The Danes led an all-out attack on the Larnaca goal – the statisticians counted 30 shots on goal of which five were on target. The Cypriots had six shots on goal and only one on target, but it was the one that counted when Ádám Gyurscó found the net in the 81st minute. Erik Sviatchenko rewarded Danish effort when he equalized three minutes later.

AEK Larnaca will play hosts in the second leg at 1.30am (AEST) Wednesday, 27 July

Meanwhile in the first leg of their Europa Conference League Second qualifying round, Botev Plovdiv hosted APOEL to a goalless draw early on Thursday (AEST). The Bulgarian team will travel to Nicosia to play the second-leg match at 3am (AEST) on Friday, July29.