Ajax Amsterdam has made it back to the Champions League. The semi-finalist of the previous year prevailed in the playoff second leg of qualifying against Apoel Nicosia 2: 0 (1: 0). The German coach Thomas Doll has missed the big hit with Nicosia. The first leg on Cyprus was 0: 0 gone out. Nicosia, however, can console itself by participating in the Europa League.
For Ajax, Mexican international Edson Alvarez (43) and Serbian Dusan Tadic (80) scored the goals. A goal by the former Schalke striker Klaas-Jan Huntelaar (49), who stood in contrast to the first leg in the Ajax starting line-up, was not given by DFB referee Felix Zwayer because of a supposed offside after consultation with the video referee.
As well as the Dutch record champions, FC Bruges and Slavia Prague also entered the group stage of the Champions League. Brugge won the 1-0 in the first leg in Austria before their own audience 2: 1 (0: 0) against Linzer ASK with the former Bundesliga professional Valerien Ismael on the bench. Slavia won 1-0 (0-0) against Romanian champions CfR Cluj, who lost the first leg 1-0.
The group stage of the premier class will be drawn on Thursday evening from 18 clock (live ticker SPIEGEL ONLINE) in Monaco.