Champions League play-off first leg: Home team at a disadvantage

Last night, the remaining 5 matches of the Champions League play-off round took place with the home teams at a disadvantage as no team gained an advantage before the second leg a week later.

Tello scored the only goal to help Porto win against Lille

Among the 5 matches that took place last night, the home team Lille and the Portuguese football giant Porto were considered the most evenly matched. However, with many years of experience in the Champions League, Porto had a better position than the home team.

If goalkeeper Vincent Enyeana had not been excellent, Lille would have conceded at least 2 goals in the first half after shots from striker Jackson Martinez. Although not creating many chances, Lille could have had a better chance to take the lead when striker Corchia shot the ball wide when facing goalkeeper Fabiano at the end of the first half.

Video clip: Lille 0-1 Porto

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With the chances slipping away, Porto coach Julen Lopetegui decided to bring on striker Cristian Tello, on loan from Barca, to replace Martinez in the 60th minute, and just one minute later the 23-year-old was on hand to score the only goal of the game. With this narrow victory, Porto had a huge advantage ahead of the return leg at home and were well on their way to qualifying for the Champions League for the 19th consecutive time.

Oleg Shatov scored the only goal to help Zenit win

Another home team that also suffered defeat last night was Standard Liege when they lost 0-1 to the representative of Russian football, Zenit. This was a completely reasonable result, and if the strikers on the away team had taken better advantage, they would have scored more than 1 goal. Although playing away, Zenit's ball control rate was up to 62%, launching 17 shots but Hulk, Danny... missed their chances and only scored 1 goal thanks to young player Oleg Shatov in the 16th minute.

Video clip:Standard Liege 0-1 Zenit

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Celtic, the lucky team to reach the play-off round due to Legia Warsaw's mistake, even though they only had to face Slovenian team Maribor, could only get a draw. Callum McGregor put the Scottish representative in the lead after only 6 minutes of play. However, the home team also had an answer with a goal to tie the score 1-1 by Damjan Bohar in the 14th minute.

Video clip: Maribor 1-1 Celtic

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In the remaining two matches last night of the Champions League play-off round, the home teams also failed to win when Slovan Bratislava was held to a 1-1 draw by BATE Borisov and away team APOEL Nicosia also drew with the same score against Aalborg.

Video clip:Bratislava 1-1 Borisov

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Video clip:Nicosia - Aalborg

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According to bongdaplus