LONDON — Bulgarian club Ludogorets reached the Champions League group stage for the first time Wednesday when a defender saved two penalties in a shootout after the team’s goalkeeper was sent off late in extra time.
Watch Wednesday’s highlights: Arsenal 1, Beskitas 0 | Athletic Bilbao 3, Napoli 1 | Malmo FF 3, SV Salzburg 0 | Bayer Leverkusen 4, FC Copenhagen 0 || Ludogorets Razgrad 1, Steaua Bucuresti 0
On a night when Arsenal, Athletic Bilbao and Bayer Leverkusen all qualified for Europe’s top competition, Ludogorets centre back Cosmin Moti upstaged everyone with his heroics in Sofia.
Facing 1986 European champion Steaua Bucharest, Ludogorets had used all three substitutes when goalkeeper Vladislav Stoyanov was sent off for a last-man foul with a minute to go with the match locked at 1-1 on aggregate in extra time.
That meant Moti, a Romanian who used to play for Steaua’s main rival Dinamo Bucharest, was forced into goal. Wearing the shirt of the team’s backup goalkeeper, Moti scored Ludogorets’ first penalty in the shootout before returning to the goal-line to make crucial saves to deny Paul Pirvulescu and Cornel Rapa.
Steaua Bucharest, which reached the round of 16 in 2013, lost the shootout 6-5. Steaua led 1-0 after the first leg and Ludogrets only levelled the aggregate score when Wanderson netted a long-range strike in injury time.
While Arsenal reached the Champions League group stage for the 17th straight year, Swedish champion Malmo joined Ludogorets as newcomers.
Malmo, which reached the European Cup second round in 1990 in the pre-Champions League era, will be Sweden’s first group stage representative in 14 years after beating Salzburg 3-0 to advance 4-2 on aggregate.
Arsenal relied on Alexis Sanchez scoring his first goal since joining from Barcelona last month to squeeze past Besiktas 1-0 and held on with 10 men for the last 15 minutes.
Arsenal, which drew the first leg 0-0, has been in the group stage every season since 1998-99, and Athletic Bilbao is back for the first time since then after beating Napoli 3-1 to go through 4-2 on aggregate.
There was no shock in Germany, with Bayer Leverkusen routing FC Copenhagen 4-0 after winning 3-2 away.
At the Emirates Stadium in London, Sanchez’s goal came on the stroke of halftime. The Chile striker slotted into the net after a one-two between Jack Wilshere and Mesut Ozil.
But just like in the first leg when Aaron Ramsey was sent off, Arsenal finished the game with 10 men. Mathieu Debuchy was shown a second yellow card in the 75th for a sliding tackle on Mustafa Pektemek, having already been booked in the first half for fouling Olcay Sahan.
Arsenal responded by replacing the ineffective Ozil with defender Calum Chambers, who was immediately booked for coming onto the pitch too early.
“It is a weight off our shoulders now because we can focus on the Premier League, wait for the draw,” Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said. “We feel we have done the job and we have a clear conscience.”
While appearing in the group stage is nothing new for Arsenal, the London club will be in Thursday’s draw with Malmo for the first time.
After losing 2-1 away at Salzburg, Malmo took just 10 minutes to score at home through Markus Rosenberg from the penalty spot after Peter Gulacsi fouled Magnus Eriksson. Eriksson was on target himself in the 19th, sublimely volleying the ball into the net from long range. Malmo fans were already celebrating when Rosenberg scored his second in the 84th after completing a counterattack.
In Spain, Marek Hamsik put Napoli in front two minutes into the second half with a low strike but host Bilbao struck back in the second half with three goals in 13 minutes. Aritz Arduiz scored twice and Ibai Gomez drilled in the third to stun Napoli coach Rafa Benitez, who won the 2005 Champions League with Liverpool.
In Germany, Son Heung-min, who scored in Leverkusen’s 3-2 first-leg win, took just two minutes on home soil to exploit poor Copenhagen defending to net again. Hakan Calhanoglu added another inside five minutes, with a free kick that Danny Amankwaa inadvertently deflected into his own net.
Stefan Kiessling added a third from the penalty spot in the 31st minute after Amankwaa fouled Tin Jedvaj, and he slid the ball into the net again in the 65th as Leverkusen qualified for the group stage for a ninth time.
