Champions League play-off second legs round-up: GNK Dinamo, Crvena Zvezda, Lille and Slovan Bratislava through

The decisive second legs of the 2024/25 UEFA Champions League play-offs took place this week and we now know the seven sides to book their places in the new-look league phase via that route.

GNK Dinamo were the first to progress on Wednesday with a resounding aggregate success against Qarabağ but Crvena Zvezda, Lille and Slovan Bratislava were sweating until the final whistle in their returns. Young Boys, Sparta Praha and Salzburg came through their ties on Tuesday.

UEFA.com rounds up all the action.

Wednesday 28 August

Slavia Praha 2-1 Lille (agg: 2-3)

Lille held off spirited Slavia in an enthralling contest to progress in their first Champions League campaign since 2021/22. Starting 2-0 behind, Slavia halved the deficit in Prague through Christos Zafeiris's emphatic fifth-minute finish.

Zafeiris and Lille winger Edon Zhegrova hit the crossbar from free-kicks before the latter hammered in for Les Dogues with 13 minutes remaining. Substitute Ivan Schranz gave the hosts hope with a close-range reply seven minutes later, and Zafeiris rattled the woodwork again but the French side held on.

Key stat: Jindřich Trpišovský oversaw this victory in his 100th match as a coach in European competition.

Crvena Zvezda 2-0 Bodø/Glimt (agg: 3-2)

Crvena Zvezda booked a spot in the league phase after overturning a first-leg deficit to overcome Bodø/Glimt thanks to goals from Bruno Duarte and captain Uroš Spajić. The Serbian side started the game brightly and eventually took the lead through Duarte's penalty in the 26th minute after a foul by Fredrik Sjøvold.

Bodø/Glimt were then undone by a towering Spajić header from a corner in the 59th minute as the hosts doubled their lead, and the 1991 European champions held on to deny the Norwegian champions a first shot at the competition proper.

Key stat: Bodø/Glimt had won all five of their previous games in qualifying this season.

Qarabağ 0-2 GNK Dinamo (agg: 0-5)

GNK Dinamo wrapped up a comfortable aggregate victory thanks to Marko Pjaca's stunning first-half strike and a Matheus Silva own goal. Pjaca, who also opened the scoring in the first-leg victory, cut in from the right shortly after the half-hour before unleashing a curling effort that flew in via the post.

The visitors added another soon after half-time when Mateusz Kochalski's save to deny Petar Sučić cannoned into the Qarabağ net off the unfortunate Silva. The home side were reduced to ten men late on when centre-back Kevin Medina was dismissed for a second bookable offence.

Key stat: This was GNK Dinamo's first victory away to a club from Azerbaijan.

Slovan Bratislava 3-2 Midtjylland (agg: 4-3)

Slovan Bratislava staged a late comeback to overcome the Danish side and progress to the Champions League proper for the first time. Marko Tolić's composed finish put the Slovakian hosts in front, but Aral Simsir equalised from just inside the box before half-time.

Djú Franculino's superb left-footed strike put Midtjylland 2-1 up after the break, but Tolić equalised before Tigran Barseghyan hit a rasping shot with four minutes remaining to give the home side victory.

Key stat: Slovan are the fourth team from Slovakia to reach the Champions League proper after Košice (1997/98), Petržalka (2005/06) and Žilina (2010/11).

Tuesday 27 August

Salzburg 1-1 Dynamo Kyiv (agg: 3-1)

Salzburg sealed their place in the inaugural league phase despite a spirited Dynamo Kyiv showing. Eighteen-year-old Adam Daghim conjured up an impressive opener for Pep Lijnders' home side, cutting in from the right before drilling a low effort just inside the upright.

The visitors levelled just before the half-hour when Taras Mykhavko's searching pass picked out the run of Vladyslav Vanat, who squeezed a strike past Janis Blaswich. The Bilo-Syni cranked up the pressure in search of further goals but the hosts held firm.

Key stat: Salzburg have reached the Champions League proper for a sixth successive season.

Sparta Praha 2-0 Malmö (agg: 4-0)

Sparta Praha's ultimately comfortable victory ended a 19-year wait for a place in the competition proper. With the hosts holding a 2-0 first-leg advantage, Malmö faced an uphill struggle but the visitors received a lifeline when Sparta's Veljko Birmančević missed a penalty in the 19th minute.

Less than ten minutes later, though, Malmö captain Anders Christiansen failed to convert a spot kick of his own having been brought down by Martin Vitík. It proved a costly miss as Lukáš Haraslín scored from the spot in the 80th minute and Albion Rrahmani then converted from close range after great work by Haraslín to ensure progress.

Key stat: Sparta have reached the Champions League proper for the first time since 2005/06.

Galatasaray 0-1 Young Boys (agg: 2-4)

A late Alan Virginius strike secured Young Boys' place in the league phase at the expense of ten-man Galatasaray. Both sides had efforts ruled out for offside in Istanbul, with Ebrima Colley and Kerem Aktürkoğlu denied in each half.

The decisive moment came via a superb YB counter three minutes from time, Virginius accelerating away from the Galatasaray defence before neatly lifting the ball over Fernando Muslera, who was dismissed a minute later.

Key stat: Young Boys have qualified for the Champions League in successive seasons for the first time in their history.