Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window) We’re one round away from the group stage following a busy Tuesday in the UEFA Champions League. [ MORE: Ramos takes shots at Klopp ] Some big names will not be there, as former champions Celtic failed to get a result in Greece and Fenerbahce could not find a way past Benfica. Spartak Trnava 1-2 AET (2-3 agg.) Red Star Belgrade Quite a game, this one. To start, the second leg saw both sides match the first leg’s result after just seven minutes. The Slovakian hosts scored through Marek Bakos in the 6th minute, but were level when El Fardou Ben Nabouhane scored the next minute. No goals came over the final 83 minutes, but Nemanja Radonjic bagged a goal for Red Star in the 98th minute to send the Serbians through to the playoff round. AEK Athens 2-1 (3-2 agg.) Celtic Brendan Rodgers men have failed to reach the group stage after slipping behind 2-0 in Greece and finding only a Scott Sinclair goal over the final 40 minutes. Rodgers has publicly criticized the board’s recruitment of players, with some speculating his time could be short at Celtic Park. But the boss of the top Glaswegian team says the loss wasn’t about the behind the scenes, just poor defending. “We’ve got to stop the cross for the first and the second is poor defending. We gave ourselves a chance and threw everything at it. I thought a lot of our build-up play was worth something from the game but you can’t defend that softly. I still felt this was a game in which we had more than enough to win but you have to defend better than we did. We gave AEK a lot of problems but you have to defend properly and we didn’t do that.” Celtic will need to beat the winner of the tie between Latvia’s Spartaks Jurmala and Lithuania’s Suduva Marijampole — Suduva leads 1-0 heading into Thursday’s second leg — for the right to play in the Europa League’s group stage. Those matches are Aug. 23 and 30. Ajax 3-0 (5-2 agg.) Standard Liege Ajax boss Erik ten Hag was not content with its two away goal lead, and crushed its Belgian visitors with goals from Klaas-Jan Hunterlaar, Matthijs de Ligt, and David Neres. MOL Vidi 0-0 (1-1 agg.) Malmo American midfielder Romain Gall sees his UCL campaign end, an 11-minute substitute performance not enough to help his Swedish visitors to a winner. MOL Vidi — long called Videoton — moves onto the playoff. Elsewhere Dynamo Kiev 2-0 (3-1 agg.) Slavia Prague BATE Borisov 1-1 (2-1 agg.) Qarabag Spartak Moscow 0-0 (2-3 agg.) PAOK Salonika Dinamo Zagreb 1-0 (3-0 agg.) FC Astana Fenerbahce 1-1 (1-2 agg.) Benfica Shkendija 0-1 (0-4 agg.) RB Salzburg Playoff round BATE Borisov vs. PSV Eindhoven Young Boys vs. Dinamo Zagreb MOL Vidi vs. AEK Athens Benfica vs. PAOK Salonika Ajax vs. Dynamo Kyiv Follow @NicholasMendola<doc-sep>The 24-year-old old came off the bench to earn the black and whites a vital away draw at Estadio da Luz Egypt international Amr Warda was PAOK Thessaloniki’s hero as they played out a 1-1 draw at Benfica in Tuesday’s Champions League first leg play-offs. Warda rifled from close range past goalkeeper Odisseas Vlachodimos after Fernando Varela’s header off Dimitris Pelkas’ free-kick had kissed the crossbar. Pizzi had given the hosts the lead from the penalty spot after Jonas was fouled by Maurício on the stroke of half time. Benfica continued their dominance in the second half before manager Razvan Lucescu threw the Egyptian into the fray for Dimitrios Limnios. In the 67th minute, Warda had a clear-cut chance to level scores but his effort went over the cross bar despite having just Vlachodimos to beat. And nine minutes later, he drilled home the equaliser to the excitement of the away fans. However, he was cautioned in the 89th minute for his foul against Rafa Silva. Article continues below Chuba Akpom made a cameo appearance for the Greek outfit after replacing Aleksandar Prijovic with three minutes left to play. The draw hands PAOK a slight advantage going into the second leg of the play-off billed for August 29 at Stadio Toumbas Thessaloníki.<doc-sep>Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images Liverpool still face the prospect of being handed a tough draw for the UEFA Champions League after Benfica knocked out Fenerbahce in qualifying on Tuesday. The Portuguese side secured a 2-1 aggregate win but still have one more round to negotiate before they are assured of a place in the competition proper. They will take on Greek side PAOK Salonika, who have already knocked out FC Basel and Spartak Moscow to progress to the play-off round. The result means Liverpool could find themselves in Pot 3, rather than the more favourable Pot 2, for the group stage draw which takes place on Thursday, August 30. ESPN FC's Dale Johnson offered a neat summary of the situation: Benfica won the first leg in Portugal 1-0 thanks to a solitary goal Franco Cervi. They secured their progression with a 1-1 draw at Fenerbahce. Gedson Fernandes opened the scoring for the visitors before Alper Potuk equalised. Video Play Button Videos you might like They now face PAOK Salonika who beat Spartak Moscow 3-2. All the goals came in the first leg. The Greek side recovered from going 2-0 down to win 3-2. Football writer Artur Petrosyan offered his view of PAOK Salonika: The first leg is scheduled to take place at Benfica on Tuesday, 21 August. The return leg will take place the following Wednesday in Greece. Even though Liverpool reached the Champions League final last season, they have a lower UEFA ranking than Benfica. If Benfica beat PAOK they will confirm their place in Pot 2, but if they lose it is Liverpool who will take their place. The Champions League draw sees the 32 qualified teams seeded into four different pots. Here's a look at how the pots stand ahead of the final play-off round, per Johnson: If Liverpool do end up in Pot 3, they face being drawn against teams such as Real Madrid, Barcelona or Juventus as well as clubs like Borussia Dortmund, Roma or Napoli. They cannot face other Premier League teams at this stage of the competition. They would expect an easier draw if they are put into Pot 2, but their fate now rests on the outcome of Benfica's final match. Liverpool may feel they have little to fear after some stirring performances in the tournament last season. They knocked out Porto, Manchester City and Roma on their way to the final last year before being beaten by Real Madrid.<doc-sep>BENFICA face a long trip to Istanbul as they look to move a step closer to the Champions League group stage. The former European champions have a one goal lead over Fenerbahce, who haven't appeared in the group phases since 2008. 1 Fenerbahce must overturn a one-goal deficit to qualify for the Champions League playoff round Credit: Getty - Contributor When is Fenerbahce vs Benfica? Fenerbahce take on Benfica on Tuesday, August 14 - TONIGHT. The match will kick off at 7pm in the UK or 9pm in Turkey. It will be played at the Sukru Saracoglu Stadium. What TV channel is Fenerbahce vs Benfica on and can I live stream it? Unfortunately, Fenerbahce vs Benfica will not be live on TV in the UK. In Portugal the match will be live on Sport TV 1 while in Turkey it is set to be televised on beIN Sports. Fans of both teams can also keep up to date with all the action on the SunSport LIVE BLOG. What is the latest team news? Who will the winner play in the playoff round? The winner of Fenerbahce vs Benfica will take on whoever wins the tie between Spartak Moscow and Paok. The Greeks head to Russia with a 3-2 lead after coming from 2-0 down to win in Thessaloniki.<doc-sep>
Benfica were pegged back in the first leg of their Champions League playoff at home to PAOK on Tuesday night, and that could be good news for Liverpool. Pizzi's penalty on the stroke of half-time had given the Portuguese giants a 1-0 lead, but an equaliser from Amr Warda - an Egypt teammate of Mo Salah's - for the Greek side ensured that they take an away goal into the second clash taking place in Thessaloniki next Wednesday as the match finished 1-1. Liverpool's interest in the match is based on the fact that a Benfica victory in the tie would ensure that the Portuguese take a place in Pot 2 for the Champions League group stage draw on August 30, with Liverpool left in Pot 3. (Image: REX/Shutterstock) (Image: Getty Images Europe) Should Benfica be eliminated in the playoff round, then Liverpool will enter Pot 2 alongside Manchester United and Tottenham, and avoid facing the likes of Borussia Dortmund, Napoli, Shakhtar Donetsk and Roma in the group stages. Of course, the Reds were in Pot 3 last season and made it all the way to the final. They currently boast a UEFA club coefficient ranking of 62.000 thanks to their efforts in Europe over the last five years, leaving them ranked 22nd on the continent by UEFA. (Image: Daily Mirror) Manchester City (100.000) are ranked eighth, Manchester United (82.000) are 12th and Tottenham (67.000) are 19th. Both Arsenal (ninth, 93.000) and Chelsea (13th, 82.000) are also above Liverpool despite missing out on the Champions League this season.