Champions League qualifying wrap: Wisla lead winners

Wisla Krakow are well placed to progress from the second round of the UEFA Champions League qualifying after a 1-0 win over Skonto on Wednesday.

The Polish champions travelled to Riga in Latvia for the first leg and managed to claim a crucial away victory, giving them the upper hand heading into the second leg next Tuesday.

Maor Meliksson and Tzvetan Genkov went close to giving Wisla a first-half lead, before Renars Rode turned a Michael Lamey cross into his own net to give the visiting side the goal they were looking for on the stroke of half-time.

Skonto goalkeeper Germans Malins was required to keep Wisla from making it 2-0 in the second, and the shot-stopper’s long goal kick created a chance for Kristaps Blanks in the dying stages, only for the Skonto striker to waste the chance.

In other first-leg second-round ties, winners were Rosenborg, Partizan Belgrade, Slovan Bratislava, Malmo FF, Maccabi Haifa and Dinamo Zagreb.

HJK, Viktoria Plzen, Ekranas, Maribor, Lovech, Shamrock Rovers, Zestafoni, APOEL and Fehervar will also take advantages into their second legs, which will be played next Wednesday or Thursday.

There was just one draw in the 17 first-leg matches played on Wednesday, with Linfield and BATE’s clash ending in a 1-1 stalemate.