Galatasaray Istanbul misses out on qualifying for the Champions League against the Swiss champions, who had a disastrous start to the season. RB Salzburg, on the other hand, secures the ticket.
The reformed Champions League will take place without Galatasaray Istanbul. The top club from Istanbul was eliminated in the playoffs by Swiss champions Young Boys Bern. After losing the first leg 2:3, Gala lost the second leg 0:1 (0:0) against the Bernese, who are at the bottom of their domestic league after five winless matches.
Alan Virginius (87th minute) scored the winning goal for YB in the dying moments. Subsequently, Fener goalkeeper Fernando Muslera was sent off for misconduct against the scorer and received a red card (87th minute).
Salzburg reaches Champions League
Meanwhile, former Klopp assistant Pepijn Lijnders led RB Salzburg to the Champions League. Austria’s runners-up only needed a 1:1 (1:1) draw in the playoff second leg against Dynamo Kyiv with Leipzig loan goalkeeper Janis Blaswich in goal. The first leg had been decided in favor of RB with a 2:0.
This means that Austria is represented by two teams in the Champions League for the first time in a season; Sturm Graz qualified automatically as champions. For Salzburg, it is the sixth consecutive participation. Lijnders had worked alongside Jürgen Klopp at Liverpool from 2015 until the summer of 2024, aside from a half-year break in 2018.
Prague also in the Champions League
Sparta Prague secured their Champions League ticket with a 2:0 (0:0) victory against Malmö FF, having also won the first leg in Sweden by 2:0.
Thus, 32 of the 36 participants for the new Champions League are confirmed, with the final four participants to be determined on Wednesday. The draw for the group stage will take place on Thursday.
From Germany, five clubs have qualified: champions Bayer Leverkusen, VfB Stuttgart, Bayern Munich, RB Leipzig, and Borussia Dortmund.
With Sport-Informations-Dienst (SID)