Bodo/Glimt, the Champions League fairytale story, officially booked their spot in the group stage for a second consecutive season after a 3-0 victory over NEC Nijmegen in the second leg of the play-off round on Tuesday. Meanwhile, Sabah, a club founded just eight years ago, made history by qualifying for Europe's premier competition for the first time after eliminating Israel's Hapoel Beer-Sheva 6-4 on aggregate.
In the match in the Netherlands, LASK pulled off an incredible comeback against Celtic. After a 0-3 defeat in the first leg at home, the Austrian side fell behind again and conceded a fourth goal in the 30th minute, putting Celtic ahead 4-0 on aggregate. However, LASK scored three unanswered goals to level the tie by the 90th minute, forcing extra time.
In extra time, Florian Flecker scored from a close-range header, and Samuel Adeniran sealed a 5-1 victory in the 109th minute, giving LASK a 5-4 aggregate win. Celtic dropped down to the Europa League. This was the third consecutive season the Scottish club has been eliminated in the Champions League play-off round.
For Bodo/Glimt, the win over NEC was much more straightforward. In the third minute, away goalkeeper Gonzalo Crettaz was sent off for handling the ball outside the box. The Norwegian side capitalized on the numerical advantage and scored three goals, sealing a 6-1 aggregate victory. Bodo/Glimt had previously impressed in the Europa Conference League with wins over Manchester City, Atletico Madrid, and Inter Milan earlier in the year.
In a match played at the same time, Sabah caused an upset against Hapoel Beer-Sheva. After a 1-2 defeat in the first leg, the Azerbaijani side were seconds away from elimination when Tellur Mutallimov scored a stoppage-time equalizer in the final minute of the second half to force extra time. In the 101st minute, Orphe Mbina headed in to make it 3-2, before Joy-Lance Mickels sealed a 5-2 win in the 115th minute.
Hapoel Beer-Sheva had led 2-1 for most of the second half thanks to a long-range strike from Guy Mizrahi in the 61st minute, but the Israeli side had to play extra time with ten men after Djibril Diop and Eliel Peretz received their second yellow cards. This is the first time an Azerbaijani club has reached the Champions League group stage since the competition changed format.
The remaining four play-off ties will be played on Wednesday, with the final spots to be determined before the group stage draw takes place in Monaco on Thursday. Sabah, along with Italy's Como, will be the two newcomers in this season's Champions League.
