Football
ESPN staff 10y

Celtic reach third qualifying round

Celtic eased through to the Champions League third qualifying round with an emphatic 4-0 win over KR Reykjavik at the BT Murrayfield stadium in Edinburgh.

Leading 1-0 from the first-leg in Iceland and starting the match in top gear, Celtic wasted little time as defender Virgil van Dijk helped himself to a brace within 20 minutes to ensure a comfortable night for the Scottish champions.

Striker Teemu Pukki grabbed a third before the break as Celtic played with impressive pace and purpose to confirm their place in the next round against either Irish outfit St Patrick's Athletic or Polish side Legia Warsaw.

The Hoops kept a firm grip on proceedings, with Pukki adding a fine fourth in the 71st minute to paint a proper picture of the home side's superiority.

Elsewhere on Tuesday, Sparta Praque were held to a 1-1 draw in Estonia against Levadia Tallinn, but that didn't stop them from going through 8-1 on aggregate.

It was a much tighter affair for Belarus' BATE Borisov, who needed to hold off Albania's Skenderbeu Korce for a final half-hour in order to advance on away goals following a 1-1 draw. BATE move on to face Hungarian champions Debrecen.

Despite being unable to play at home, Maccabi Tel Aviv advanced 3-0 on aggregate after a 2-0 win over Andorra's Santa Coloma, with Eran Zahavi and Tal Ben Haim scoring the goals. The match was played in Cyprus after UEFA prohibited games from being played in Israel during hostilities.

Dinamo Zagreb won 2-0 in Lithuania to oust Zalgiris Vilnius and advance 4-0 on aggregate. They will face Danish champions AaB in the next round.

Partizan Belgrade traveled to the Faroe Islands, where they came from behind to win 3-1 and move on with a 6-1 aggregate scoreline against HB Torshavn.

Welsh champions The New Saints were dumped out of the Champions League following a 3-0 aggregate defeat by Slovan Bratislava. Marko Milinkovic scored both goals, the first of which did not arrive until the 75th minute, in the Slovakia side's 2-0 win.

Reigning Northern Ireland champions Cliftonville also bowed out of qualifying after Debrecen completed a 2-0 aggregate victory after a goalless first leg. Rene Mihelic and Ibrahim Sidibe were on target as the Hungarian club plundered two goals at the Debrecen Stadium.

Ludogorets Razgrad of Bulgaria were held to a 1-1 draw in Luxembourg but moved on 5-1 on aggregate at the expense of F91 Dudelange. Ludogorets have drawn Partizan in the next stage.

Azerbaijani champions Qarabag beat Malta's Valletta 4-0 to win 5-0 after two legs, and Moldova's Sheriff Tiraspol won 3-0 in Montenegro to eliminate Sutjeska Niksic 5-0 on aggregate. Sheriff will face Slovan Bratislava in the third qualifying round, while Qarabag play Red Bull Salzburg.

The rest of the matchups will be set once the second qualifying round concludes on Wednesday.

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