Fenerbahce Secures Champions League Group Stage Spot Amid Ugly Post-Match Clashes

France's Guendouzi was attacked by Lyon fans at the Champions League match as goals from Vedat Muriqi and English defender Archie Brown helped Fenerbahce stun Lyon in the playoffs. The Turkish team qualified for the league phase in a fixture marred by ugly scenes after midfielder Matteo Guendouzi taunted the home fans.

The French international was attacked at the end of the match on Wednesday after celebrating the 2-1 win in a manner that seemed to provoke the home fan base at the Groupama Stadium. This led to clashes between players and coaching staff on and off the football pitch, causing the visiting team’s celebrations to descend into chaos.

When the match got under way, the teams were locked at 1-1 from the first leg in Istanbul a week ago, but the Turks opened up a 2-0 lead on the night in the first half in southeastern France. Exciting Belgian winger Malick Fofana gave Lyon hope in the second half, but Lois Openda and Kail Boudache had further strikes ruled out for offside, and Fener held on.

In other action, Hungarian Barnabas Varga scored a brace, and former Real Madrid forward Luka Jovic added another as AEK Athens cruised into the league phase with a 4-0 thrashing of Levski Sofia. Romanian Razvan Marin added a penalty as the Greeks booked their progress following a 0-0 draw in the first leg in Bulgaria.

Viking Stavanger hit back from a goal down on the night to beat Dinamo Zagreb 3-1 in Norway to progress 5-3 on aggregate, securing a spot in the Champions League group phase for the first time. Albanian Arber Hoxha gave Dinamo an early lead, but Zlatko Tripic equalised from the penalty spot just eight minutes later, before two goals in two minutes early in the second period from Edvin Austbo and Tobias Moi sealed Viking’s progress.

Additionally, Panama’s Cristian Martinez scored the extra-time winner as Slovan Bratislava qualified for the Champions League group phase for the second time in three seasons. Andraz Sporar had given the Slovaks an early lead at Celje, but Svit Seslar equalised for the Slovenians from the penalty spot before Martinez bagged the winner on the night for a 3-2 aggregate success.