Jerusalem: Israeli champions Maccabi Haifa snatched a dramatic 1-1 home draw against Greek champions Olympiacos Piraeus in the second qualifying round of the UEFA Champions League on Wednesday evening.
The team that advances to the third round will be determined after the second-leg match to be held on July 27 in Piraeus. The winner in aggregate will face Cypriot champion Apollon Limassol.
In other second qualifying round matches played on Wednesday, Ukraine’s Dynamo Kyiv were held goalless by Fenerbahce of Turkey; Dynamo Zagreb of Croatia was held 2-2 by Shkupi of North Macedonia and HJK of Finland lost to Plzen of Czech Republic 1-2.
Linfield of Northern Ireland improved their chances of qualifying for the third round by defeating Bodo/Glimt of Norway; Ferencvaros of Hungary lost 1-2 to Slovan Bratislava and Maribor of Slovenia were held to a 0-0 draw by Sheriff of Moldova.
About 30,000 fans at Sammy Ofer Stadium in the northern city of Haifa celebrated a late equaliser in the 92nd minute, thanks to a lucky shot by Dolev Haziza over goalkeeper Tomas Vaclik.
The Greeks held the lead since the seventh minute after a shot by Tiquinho Soares hit the post, and Philip Zinckernagel easily turned the rebound into the opening goal.
Haifa failed to even the score by halftime, with two goals for the home team disqualified by German referee Sascha Stegemann for offside, reports Xinhua.
Haifa striker Frantzdy Pierrot found the crossbar in the 77th minute, before Haziza’s late equalizer.
–IANS