Belarusian side through to CL group phase

Belarusian side BATE Borisov has secured a spot in the Champions League group phase following a 2-1 aggregate win over Levski Sofia.

The first leg in Bulgaria had a 1-0 win to BATE as result, and Levski were unable to turn this around in the return leg.

Sosnovski put the Belarusians in the lead after just thirteen minutes, and things began looking good for the home side. Gadzhev equalised in the 39th minute however and the hosts went down a man as Bliznyuk was sent off three minutes later.

But much to the home crowd’s delight, BATE held on to their aggregate lead to advance to the group phase.

BATE Borisov had to survive all three preliminary rounds to get to this far, a unique performance in its own right. Valur Reykjavik and RSC Anderlecht were eliminated in the two previous rounds.