Welcome to another edition of Champions RoundUp. This week saw the conclusion of the Second Qualifying Round and had no major shocks or big casualties.
Irish champions Shamrock Rovers were the first side to book their place in the Third Qualifying Round after they held out to draw 0-0 with Estonian Champions Flora Tallinn in Tallinn in the rounds early kick off. The hard fought tie in which Shamrock Rovers won 1-0 on aggregate earns them the reward of playing Danish giants FC Copenhagen in the Third Qualifying Round.
First Qualifying Round winners, F91 Dudelange and Valletta FC were both eliminated in the Second Qualifying Round meaning all participants in the First Qualifying Round are now inactive in the tournament. Dudelange were beaten home and away by Slovenian champions NK Maribor to lose 5-1 on aggregate. Meanwhile Valletta, despite a brave showing crashed out to Ekranas of Lithuania , losing 4-2 on aggregate. Valletta despite their free scoring form in the UEFA Champions League were unable to match that performance at the back and that proved costly. NK Maribor will now face a tough prospect in Israeli stalwarts Maccabi Haifa, who despite a scare in Bosnia saw of Borac 7-4 on aggregate and Ekranas' efforts have earned them a tie against Belorussian champions BATE Boriosv who all eyes will be on after they struggled against Northern Irish champions Linfield FC.
APOEL Nicosia who featured in the Group Stages recently will be looking to repeat that feat this season, and they got off to a great start in that quest by eliminating Albanian champions KS Skenderbeu with ease putting six past them over to legs to win 6-0 on aggregate. APOEL will now face a tricky assignment in Slovan Bratislava.
Before we go here is a look at all the Results in the Second Qualifying Round Ties:
Flora Tallinn 0-0 Shamrock Rovers
Aggregate: 0-1
Dudelange 1-3 NK Maribor
Aggregate: 1-5
Tobol Kostanay 1-1 Slovan Bratislava
Aggregate: 1-3
Neftci 0-0 Dinamo Zagreb
Aggregate: 0-3
Ekranas 1-0 Valletta
Aggregate: 4-2
HJK Helsinki 10-0 Bangor City
Aggregate: 13-0
BATE Borisov 2-0 Linfield
Aggregate: 3-1
Litex Lovech 3-0 FK Mogren
Aggregate: 5-1
HB Torshavn 1-1 Malmo FF
Aggregate: 1-3
Viktoria Plzen 5-1 FC Pyunik
Aggregate: 9-1
Wisla Krakow 2-0 Skonto
Aggregate: 3-0
Skendija 0-1 FK Partizan
Aggregate: 0-5
APOEL FC 4-0 Skenderbeu
Aggregate: 6-0
Dacia 2-0 Zestafoni
Aggregate: 2-3
Videoton 3-2 SK Sturm
Aggregate: 3-4
Borac 3-2 Maccabi Haifa
Aggregate: 4-7
Breidablik 2-0 Rosenborg BK
Aggregate: 2-5
Thats it for this week on Champions RoundUp, we congratulate all the successful sides in the Second Qualifying Round and offer our commiserations to those who didn't make it. See you next Saturday!
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