28/08/2008 8:47 AM
Dirk Kuyt's dramatic 118th-minute goal saw Liverpool sneak past Standard Liege 1-0 and into the group stages of the Champions League.
Having been frustrated for over three hours of football in both legs of this contest, Liverpool finally got the only goal of the tie two minutes before penalties beckoned.
Kuyt met Ryan Babel's cross at the far post to slide the ball into the net and break the hearts of the Belgian visitors.
Atletico Madrid overturned its first-leg disadvantage to breeze past Schalke with a 4-0 win on Wednesday night.
Starting 1-0 down from the first leg, Atletico looked a far better team than the one that played in Germany two weeks ago as it swept aside the opposition.
Sergio Aguero, fresh from helping Argentina to gold in the Olympics, was the star of the show and put the hosts ahead in the 23rd minute, heading home moments after Diego Forlan's shot had been cleared off the line.
Forlan would get his goal in the 54th minute, firing home from the edge of the area, and Luis Garcia made it 3-0 eight minutes from time.
Schalke's misery was complete when Christian Pander hauled down Simao in the area to earn a red card, and Maxi Rodriguez slotted home the penalty.
Atletico might have scored even more but for Luis Garcia and Forlan hitting the post in either half.
Arsenal breezed through with a 4-0 win over FC Twente, completing a 6-0 aggregate rout.
Samir Nasri scored at home for the second game running since his transfer from Marseille, getting the opener in the 27th minute, before William Gallas, Theo Walcott and Nicklas Bendtner completed the scoring after the break.
Shakhtar Donetsk also enjoyed an easy victory, winning 3-1 away to Dinamo Zagreb to make it 5-1 on aggregate.
Adriano opened the scoring for the visitors in the 42nd minute, and although Bosko Balaban got one back for Dinamo in the 57th minute, Evaeyerson Brandau and Willian completed the scoring for Shakhtar.
Olympiacos could not do enough to turn around its 3-0 first-leg loss to Anorthosis Famagusta.
The Greek giants won on the night through Fernando Belluschi's 54th minute goal, but still went out 3-1 on aggregate.
Marseille went through fairly comfortably, winning 2-1 at home to complete a 3-1 aggregate win over SK Brann.
A second-half brace from Mamadou Niang came either side of Kristjan Orn Sigurdsson's goal for Brann.
Fenerbahce got the win it needed to progress, beating Partizan Belgrade 2-1.
Semih Senturk and Alex put the hosts in control before Zoran Tosic got one back for Partizan, sending Fener through 4-3 on aggregate.
However, its Turkish rival Galatasary is out after losing 1-0 to Steaua Bucharest.
Banel Nicolita's 57th minute goal was enough to give the hosts a 3-2 aggregate victory.
FC Basel booked its place in the group stages with a 2-1 win over Guimares.
After a goalless first leg, there was all to play for on Wednesday night, and the hosts wasted little time taking the lead through Valentin Stocker in the 11th minute.
Guimares was level through Fajardo's penalty four minutes later, but Eren Derdiyok scored what proved to be the winner in the 54th minute.
Dynamo Kiev continued its total domination over Spartak Moscow, winning 4-1 for the second consecutive match for an 8-2 aggregate win.
Oleksandr Aliev opened the scoring in the fourth minute and Ismael Bangoura added another midway through the first half.
Artem Dzjuba got one