AEK knocks Celtic out of Champions League qualifiers

afk-athens

AEK Athens' Niklas Hult, centre, celebrates on the pitch after his team won a Champions League third qualifying round, second leg, soccer match between AEK Athens and Celtic at the Olympic stadium in Athens, Tuesday, Aug. 14, 2018. (Petros Giannakouris/AP)

AEK Athens eliminated Scottish champion Celtic in the third round of Champions League qualifying on Tuesday.

Portuguese club Benfica and Ukraine’s Dynamo Kyiv were among other teams to reach the next round.

AEK beat Celtic 2-1 in Greece on Tuesday thanks to goals from Rodrigo Galo and Marko Livaja, to secure a 3-2 win on aggregate. Scott Sinclair responded with a goal for Celtic.

Celtic reached the Champions League group stage in the last two seasons, but the defeat continues a difficult start to the season for Brendan Rodgers’ team following a 1-0 loss to Hearts in the Scottish league on Saturday.

Benfica earned a 2-1 aggregate win over Turkish team Fenerbahce, while Dynamo Kyiv beat Slavia Prague 3-1 over the two legs.

[relatedlinks]

When submitting content, please abide by our submission guidelines, and avoid posting profanity, personal attacks or harassment. Should you violate our submissions guidelines, we reserve the right to remove your comments and block your account. Sportsnet reserves the right to close a story’s comment section at any time.