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On Wednesday, the second qualifying round of the UEFA Champions League ended with thirteen response matches. The Lithuanian champion Panevezys "Ekranas" finished their appearance in the tournament, which after a crushing defeat at home once again had to acknowledge the convincing advantage of the strongest Croatian team Zagreb's "Dinamo". Zagreb's "Dinamo" 5 - 2 Panevezys "Ekranas" (First leg 4-1, aggregate score 9-3) 2' [1 - 0] Goran Ljubojevic 48' [2 - 0] Ognjen Vukojevic 62' [3 - 0] Goran Ljubojevic 65' [3 - 1] Mantas Savenas 69' [3 - 2] Povilas Luksys 90' [4 - 2] Davor Vugrinec 90' [5 - 2] Goran Ljubojevic "Ekranas" lineup: Skrupskis; Paulauskas, Klimavicius, Banevicius; Petrauskas (83' Galkevicius), Kucys (46' Slekys), Savenas, Tomkevicius, Gardzijauskas; Varnas (56' Pogreban), Luksys In the first match, the Panevezys team lost at home with a score of 1-4, so the second match, despite the possibility of facing London's "Arsenal" in case of a victory in the second round, was already a matter of honor. On the other hand, "Dinamo" coach Josip Kuze could allow some key players to rest and give a chance to younger players. The match at the 40,000-seater "Maksimir" stadium started off poorly for the visitors - just in the first minute after a cross from Marijano Buljat, the home team striker Goran Ljubojevic scored a goal. After halftime, "Dinamo" extended their lead with a great shot by Ognjen Vukojevic, and just over an hour into the game, after another pass from M. Buljat, G. Ljubojevic scored his second goal, leaving no doubts about the winner of the match. However, "Ekranas" did not give up and shortened the team's captain Mantas Saveanas' lead within three minutes, and soon after Povilas Luksys also scored. But the Panevezys team failed to equalize, and at the end of the match, the Croatians scored two more goals - Davor Vugrinec and G. Ljubojevic completing a hat-trick. "Ekranas" had to withdraw from the competition with an overall score of 9-3, and interestingly, this pair was the most productive in the second round. Six Lithuanians in their ranks had an even bigger failure with Benjamin Zelkevicius' Liepaja "Metalurgs", which lost to Kiev's "Dynamo" 4-0 and lost even more by a total of 8-1. Arturas Rimkevicius missed the best chances to score, as he played the entire match alongside Mindaugas Kalonas, while the other Lithuanians didn't participate - Darius Miceika and Tomas Tamosauskas were disqualified due to accumulated yellow cards, Nerijus Astrauskas stayed on the bench, and Vadimas Petrenka was not even registered for the match. The battles in the competition are continued by another "Lithuanian" club, Edinburgh's "Hearts". Valdas Ivanauskas' students played a goalless draw with the club "Siroki Brijeg" in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and since they won the first leg with a score of 3-0, they advanced to the next round, where they will face Athens' "AEK" club. Injured Nerijus Barasa and Edgaras Jankauskas did not play, Deividas Cesnauskis played until the 83rd minute, and Saulius Mikoliunas came on from the 60th minute. There were virtually no surprises in the second round. The closest was the Tiraspol "Sheriff" team, who managed to secure a draw at home against Moscow's "Spartak" and also did not lose to the opponents away, but due to an away goal, the Russian club advanced. After a draw in the first match, Skopje's "Rabotnicki" club performed better in the second leg, defeating Hungary's "Debrecen" 4-1, while only two teams managed to get revenge - Ružomberok's "MFK", who won at home against Sweden's "Djurgardens" 3-1, and "Zurich" team winning 2-0 against Salzburg's "Red Bull". The third qualifying round matches will start on August 8-9 and end on 22-23 days. The winners of the pairs will enter the group stage starting in September, joining the 16 teams that have automatically qualified for the main tournament. The Champions League final will take place on May 23, 2007 in Athens.
All Champions League Second Qualifying Round Results: Tórshavn's "B36" (Faroe Islands) 0 - 5 Istanbul's "Fenerbahce" (Turkey) (First leg 0-4, aggregate score 0-9) Moscow's "Spartak" (Russia) 0 - 0 Tiraspol's "Sheriff" (Moldova) (First leg 1-1, aggregate score 1-1) Kiev's "Dynamo" (Ukraine) 4 - 0 Liepaja's "Metalurgs" (Latvia) (First leg 4-1, aggregate score 8-1) Bolnisi's "Sioni" (Georgia) 0 - 2 Sofia's "Levski" (Bulgaria) (First leg 0-2, aggregate score 0-4) Ružomberok's "MFK" (Slovakia) 3 - 1 "Djurgårdens" (Sweden) (First leg 0-1, aggregate score 3-2) Bucharest's "Steaua" (Romania) 3 - 0 Nova Gorica's "Gorica" (Slovenia) (First leg 2-0, aggregate score 5-0) Salzburg's "Red Bull" (Austria) 2 - 0 "Zürich" (Switzerland) (First leg 1-2, aggregate score 3-2) Warsaw's "Legia" (Poland) 2 - 0 "Hafnarfjordur" (Iceland) (First leg 1-0, aggregate score 3-0) Skopje's "Rabotnicki" (Macedonia) 4 - 1 "Debrecen" (Hungary) (First leg 1-1, aggregate score 5-2) "MYPA" (Finland) 2 - 2 "København" (Denmark) (First leg 0-2, aggregate score 2-4) Belgrade's "Crvena Zvezda" (Serbia) 3 - 0 "Cork City" (Ireland) (First leg 1-0, aggregate score 4-0) "Široki Brijeg" (Bosnia and Herzegovina) 0 - 0 Edinburgh's "Hearts" (Scotland) (First leg 0-3, aggregate score 0-3) Oslo's "Vålerenga" (Norway) 2 - 2 "Mlada Boleslav" (Czech Republic) (First leg 1-3, aggregate score 3-5)
Champions League Third Qualifying Round Pairs: Moscow's "Spartak" - Liberec's "Slovan" Donetsk's "Shakhtar" - Warsaw's "Legia" Salzburg's "Red Bull" - "Valencia" Sofia's "Levski" - Verona's "Chievo" Edinburgh's "Hearts" - Athens' "AEK" Moscow's "CSKA" - Ružomberok's "MFK" "Milan" - Belgrade's "Crvena Zvezda" Istanbul's "Galatasaray" - "Mlada Boleslav" Liege's "Standard" - Bucharest's "Steaua" Vienna's "Austria" - Lisbon's "Benfica" Zagreb's "Dinamo" - London's "Arsenal" "Copenhagen" - Amsterdam's "Ajax" "Hamburger" - "Osasuna" Kiev's "Dynamo" - Istanbul's "Fenerbahce" "Liverpool" - Haifa's "Maccabi" "Lille" - Skopje's "Rabotnicki"
