Panathinaikos knocked out of the Champion’s League 2015

French side Lille moved to within a step of this season’s Champions League group stage despite being held to a 1-1 draw by 10-man Grasshoppers of Switzerland on Tuesday in the third qualifying round.

Lille held a 2-0 advantage from the first leg in Zurich and stretched their lead on 19 minutes at the Stade Pierre-Mauroy as Florent Balmont fired in a spectacular 25-yard strike.

Grasshoppers midfielder Amir Abrashi responded with a fine long-range effort of his own just past the half-hour to give the visitors hope before Kahraba volleyed against the base of the post as the Swiss side mounted a spirited challenge.

However, any hopes of a remarkable turnaround were effectively extinguised when Daniel Pavlovic was dismissed with 20 minutes left for a poor challenge on Sebastien Corchia as Lille ultimately advanced 3-1 on aggregate.

Elsewhere Belgian side Standard Liege knocked out Panathinaikos after a 2-1 win in Greece against the 1971 European Cup finalists.

BATE Borisov of Belarus and Slovenians Maribor also moved through to the play-off round, for which the draw will be made at UEFA headquarters in Nyon on Friday.

Aug 5 (Infostrada Sports) – Results from the Champions League Qualifying Round 3 second leg matches on Tuesday

Qualifying Round 3

Tuesday, August 5, second leg

Lille (France) – Grasshoppers (Switzerland) 1-1 (halftime: 1-1)

First leg: Grasshoppers – Lille 0-2. Lille win 3-1 on aggregate.

Maccabi Tel Aviv (Israel) – Maribor (Slovenia) 2-2 (halftime: 1-1)

First leg: Maribor – Maccabi Tel Aviv 1-0. Maribor win 3-2 on aggregate.

Panathinaikos (Greece) – Standard Liege (Belgium) 1-2 (halftime: 1-2)

First leg: Standard Liege – Panathinaikos 0-0. Standard Liege win 2-1 on aggregate.

BATE Borisov (Belarus) – Debrecen (Hungary) 3-1 (halftime: 1-1)

First leg: Debrecen – BATE Borisov 1-0. BATE Borisov win 3-2 on aggregate.

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