Young Boys stun Turks

Fenerbahce knocked out of European Champions League as Ajax slip into final qualifier.

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Henri Bienvenu of Young Boys celebrates his goal in Turkey [EPA]

Turkish giants Fenerbahce were eliminated from the European Champions League after being stunned 1-0 at home by Young Boys.

Uruguay striker Luis Suarez was on target again as Ajax Amsterdam held on for a nail-biting 3-3 draw at Paok Salonica to reach the final qualifying round of the continent’s top club competition.

Scottish side Celtic went out despite a 2-1 win over Braga and Dinamo Zagreb were stunned by Moldovan champions Sheriff Tiraspol, losing their tie on penalties.

Fenerbahce, quarter-finalists in 2008, were clear favourites against Swiss league runners-up Young Boys, who have never played in the group stage, after a 2-2 away draw last week.

Instead the visitors took the initiative and Cameroon striker Henri Bienvenu took one of many chances when he scored from a narrow angle in the 40th minute.

Missing Uruguay captain Diego Lugano with a knee injury, the Turks had Miroslav Stoch sent off in the 53rd minute when he was shown a second yellow card for diving.

Ajax, held 1-1 at home by Greek side Paok last week, went through on away goals on Wednesday despite squandering a 3-1 lead in the third qualifying round, second leg tie.

Double strike

Portuguese forward Vieirinha gave Paok a half-time lead before Suarez, last season’s Dutch League top scorer with 35 goals, and Siem de Jong scored twice within three minutes for the Dutch team just after the break.

Third round results

Wednesday August 4

undefined Helsinki 1-2 Partizan Belgrade (1-5)
undefined Zenit 1-0 Unirea Urziceni (1-0)
undefined Copenhagen 3-2 Borisov (3-2)
undefined Zilina 3-1 Litex Lovech (4-2)
undefined Basel 3-1 Debrecen (5-1)
undefined Zagreb 1-1 Tiraspol (6-5/pens)
undefined Lech Poznan 0-1 Sparta Prague (0-2)undefined Fenerbahce 0-1 Young Boys (2-3)
undefined Salzburg 4-1 Omonia Nicosia (5-2)
undefined Ghent 1-3 Dynamo Kiev (1-6)
undefined Celtic 2-1 Braga (2-4)
undefined Salonika 3-3 Ajax (4-4a)
undefined Rosenborg 3-0 AIK Stockholm (4-0)

Aggregate scores in brackets.
a = away-goals win.
pens = score in penalty shootout.

Rasmus Lindgren seemed to make the tie safe for the former European champions with a third in the 55th minute.

But Ajax, who last reached the group stage in 2005/06, had to cling on after Dimitris Salpingidis pulled one back within a minute and Vladimir Ivic scored a stoppage-time equaliser.

Suarez scored three goals at the World Cup to help Uruguay reach the semi-finals. He was also involved in controversy in the quarter-final against Ghana, when his handball stopped a goal-bound shot on the line and he was sent off in the last minute.

Braga stayed on course for their first group stage appearance after Paulo Cesar gave them a 20th-minute lead at Celtic.

Although Gary Hooper and Efrain Juarez replied for the Scots in the second half, the Portuguese side ran out 4-2 aggregate winners.

Russia’s Zenit St Petersburg qualified against Romania’s Unirea Urziceni – group stage participants last season – when Portuguese striker Danny scored the only goal of the tie.

Six of the best

Former AC Milan and Chelsea striker Andriy Shevchenko set up two goals to help Dynamo Kiev win 3-1 at Ghent and complete a 6-1 aggregate win.

Ajax, Young Boys, Braga, Dynamo and Zenit are all in the non-champions half of the draw and will be joined in the next round by Tottenham Hotspur, Sampdoria, Werder Bremen, Auxerre and Sevilla.

The winners qualify for the group stage.

In the champions half, Austria’s Salzburg demolished Omonia Nicosia of Cyprus 4-1 to win 5-2 on aggregate.

Brazilian striker Cleo scored at the start and the end of the match go help Serbian champions Partizan Belgrade win 2-1 at HJK for a 5-1 aggregate win over the Finns.

FC Basel, Rosenborg Trondheim, Sparta Prague, Zilina and FC Copenhagen were among the other teams to move within one round of the group stage.

Source: News Agencies