The European adventure continues this July as clubs from the top leagues remain calm in the final phase. Except for those playing in the Conference, who will have to overcome a preliminary round in August. Regarding Real Sociedad and the Europa League, there were no surprises in the first leg of the second round, but the favorites were not abundant and will suffer in the return leg to advance. This is the case with Ajax, the primary scare in these stages, who won 1-0 against Vojvodina at the 87th minute and will defend that slim lead in the Serbian hell next week. Panathinaikos also did not win comfortably (2-1) against Bulgarian Botev Plovdiv. The winners of these two matchups will face off in the next phase. Braga (2-0) had a bit more control over the tie against the weak Israeli Petah Tikva, and Turkish Trabzonspor (0-2) against Slovak Ruzomberok, but there were no thrashings in any case.
The main surprise of the day was the home defeat of Sheriff, a well-known opponent of the Real, against Swedish Elfsborg (0-1), and that the two second division clubs managed to stay alive for the return leg. Romanian Hunedoara drew 0-0 against another familiar foe, Rijeka, and Polish Wisla Krakow lost 1-2 against Rapid Vienna. Next Thursday, it will be decided which clubs advance to the third round, where Swiss Servette, Ukrainian Kryvbas, and Czech Viktoria Plzen await. In the final preliminary round are Turkish Besiktas, Belgian Anderlecht, Scottish Hearts, Serbian TSC, and Austrian LASK. Among them, along with those who drop from the Champions League, the remaining 23 spots for the final phase of the Europa League, where Real is already stationed, will be contested.
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First-leg results of the second preliminary round of the Europa League
Wisla Krakow (Poland) 1-2 Rapid Wien (Austria)
Ruzomberok (Slovakia) 0-2 Trabzonspor (Turkey)
Molde (Norway) 3-1 Silkeborg (Denmark)
Sheriff (Moldova) 0-1 Elfsborg (Sweden)
Corvinul Hunedoara (Romania) 0-0 Rijeka (Croatia)
Panathinaikos (Greece) 2-1 Botev Plovdiv (Bulgaria)
Ajax (Netherlands) 1-0 Vojvodina (Serbia)
Kilmarnock (Scotland) 1-1 Cercle Brugge (Belgium)
Braga (Portugal) 2-0 Petah Tikva (Israel)
And it is that the clubs in the Europa League not only have to look at their competition but also at the Champions League since from this round onwards, the losers of each tie will drop to the Europa League. In this tournament, the favorites performed better and nearly settled all ties in the first leg, which benefits Real as worse teams will drop to the Europa League. One of those that suffered the most was Fenerbahce with Mourinho, who ended up winning 3-4 against Lugano with a hat trick from Dzeko. Bodo/Glimt, Ferencvaros, Malmo, Midtjylland, and Sparta Prague all won convincingly. The highest-profile team that will drop to the orange tournament will be Serbian Partizan, who lost 6-2 in the first leg against Dynamo Kyiv.
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First-leg results of the second Champions Preliminary
Losers drop to the Europa League
Bodo/Glimt (Norway) 4-0 FK RFS (Latvia)
Panevezys (Lithuania) 0-4 Jagiellonia (Poland)
Lincoln Red Imps (Gibraltar) 0-2 Qarabag (Azerbaijan)
APOEL (Cyprus) 1-0 Petrocub (Moldova)
Malmo (Sweden) 4-1 KI Klaksvik (Faroe Islands)
FCSB (Romania) 1-1 Maccabi Tel Aviv (Israel)
Ferencvaros (Hungary) 5-0 The New Saints (Wales)
UE Santa Coloma (Andorra) 0-3 Midtjylland (Denmark)
Shamrock Rovers (Ireland) 0-2 Sparta Praga (Czech Republic)
PAOK (Greece) 3-2 Borac Banja Luka (Bosnia)
Ludogorets (Bulgaria) 2-0 Dinamo Minsk (Belarus)
Celje (Slovenia) 1-1 Slovan Bratislava (Slovakia)
Route League:
Lugano (Switzerland) 3-4 Fenerbahce (Turkey)
Dynamo Kyiv (Ukraine) 6-2 Partizan (Serbia)
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