Against all odds, Dynamo Kyiv reach UCL play-offs

GENEVA, Aug 10: Dynamo Kyiv’s unlikely run toward the Champions League continued with an extra-time win over Sturm Graz in the third qualifying round.
The Ukrainian club is now two games away from making the group stage of the Champions League as it faces a playoff against Benfica over the next two weeks.
Goals from defender Kostiantyn Vivcharenko in the 97th minute and midfielder Viktor Tsyhankov in the 112th lifted Dynamo to a 2-1 win in Austria and a 3-1 victory on aggregate.
Dynamo’s four Champions League qualifying games in the past 20 days are the only competitive matches it has played all year because of Russia’s was on its home country. Ukrainian clubs are also relying on depleted rosters with little hope of attracting players from other countries.
For the second straight qualifying round, Dynamo needed extra time and late goals in the away leg to advance. The next challenge for Dynamo and veteran coach Mircea Lucescu is a two-leg playoff against Benfica as it tries to join Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League group stage. Shakhtar earned its place by being top of the Ukrainian Premier League when it was abandoned last season because of the war.
Dynamo will host Benfica in the first leg next week in Lódz, Poland, where it is playing its “home” games in the European competition. Russian teams have been banned from UEFA and FIFA competitions.
Benfica eased past Midtjylland 7-2 on aggregate with a 3-1 win in Denmark on Tuesday.
PSV Eindhoven also needed an extra-time goal, from Luuk de Jong in the 109th, to overcome Monaco 3-2 in the game and 4-3 on aggregate Trailing Monaco in the 89th minute, the 1988 European champion got an equalising goal from Érick Gutiérrez, to tie the game at 2-2. UEFA scrapped the away-goals rule last year so Monaco did not advance when the overall score was 3-3 after regulation time.
PSV next face Rangers, which overcame Union Saint-Gilloise’s two-goal lead from the first leg, winning 3-0 in Glasgow and 3-2 on aggregate.
Union, Monaco, Sturm Graz and Midtjylland will instead enter the group stage of the second-tier Europa League. (AP)