SALONIKA, Greece, Sept. 15 (Reuters) – Former European Cup winners Benfica crashed in the third tie of the Champions League after a surprise 2-1 loss at PAOK Salonique on Tuesday when Serbian winger Andrija Zivkovic scored against his former club a week after his departure.
Dynamo Kiev also qualified for the knockout round with a 2-0 home win over Dutch club AZ Alkmaar, as did Belgian Gent after beating Rapid Vienna 2–1.
THE PAOK praise is a two-match playoff series opposite the Russians in Krasnodar, while Dynamo will face Gent for putting him on the silver organizing level with 32 teams.
Benfica, which won the first festival among clubs in Europe in 1961 and 1962, saw last season’s problems spread in that mandate, as Zivkovic, who has gone through four difficult seasons in Portugal, has rubbed his injuries.
After watching the national championship and the cup double in Porto last season, Benfica lost a number of times to PAOK in a one-sided first half while enjoying 72% ownership.
They were punished after the break when Dimitrios Giannoulis hit the first game since nearby diversity in the 63rd minute after a double with Chuba Akpom and replacement Zivkovic made the 2-0 in the 75th with a comfortable shot near the stick.
Rafa Silva achieved one with a headbutt of detention, but came too far past to avoid an embarrassing defeat that will test coach Jorge Jesús, who returned to Benfica the season tight for a moment in charge.
After being on the beat from 2009 to 2015, Jesús won the elusive double of the Brazilian league name and the Copa Libertadores with Flamengo in 2019, but now faces a huge task to lead Benfica back to victory.
Dynamo absorbed the tension at home in front of the Alkmaar in the first half before Luxembourg striker Gerson Rodrigues fired them right after the break with a clean end on the roof of the net thanks to Vitaliy Buyalskiy’s clever paintings.
Mykola Shaparenko sealed his way with a backed-down head after visiting goalkeeper Marco Bizot miscalculated a Tomasz Kedziora center from the right, leaving the midfielder with the undeniable task of hitting the empty net.
Niklas Dorsch led Gent in the 36th minute against Rapid thanks to an exact help from Sven Kums and Roman Yaremchuk added the moment with a penalty in the hour before Yusuf Demir scored a consolation in the time off for visitors.
In Wednesday’s special matches, Red Star Belgrade, winner of the 1991 European Cup, visits Cypriot Omonia Nicosia, while Dinamo Zagreb face Hungarian champion Ferencvaros (written through Zoran Milosavljevic; edited through Ken Ferris).