BERNE — Partizan Belgrade, Astana, Malmo and CSKA Moscow all pulled off impressive comebacks to reach the playoff round of the Champions League qualifiers Wednesday. Skenderbeu also qualified, putting itself within two matches of becoming the first Albanian side to reach the group stage, after beating Milsami in another of the third round, second leg ties. Celtic went through after a 0-0 draw against Qarabag. CSKA hit back from two goals behind at Sparta Prague to win 3-2 and qualify 5-4 on aggregate against the demoralized Czechs, who had only needed a goalless draw to progress. Alan Dzagoev scored the winner in the 76th minute after two goals from Ahmed Musa had hauled the Russians back into the match. Astana, having drawn 0-0 in the first leg away to Helsinki, also fell two goals behind at home but hit back to lead 3-2 before Patrick Twumasi, one of their goalscorers, was sent off in the 70th minute. Erfan Zeneli converted an 86th-minute penalty to level at 3-3 and put the Finns ahead on away goals, only for Evgeniy Postnikov to score a stoppage-time winner for the Kazakh champion. Serbian champion Partizan went through after a roller-coaster 4-2 home win over 10-man Steaua Bucharest gave them a 5-3 aggregate win over the 1986 European Cup winners. Trailing 2-1 at halftime, Partizan missed a penalty when Valeri Bojinov hit the post. But Steaua fell apart after captain Fernando Varela was sent off and Partizan hit back with three goals in the final half hour through Marko Jevtovic, Andrija Zivkovic and substitute Nikola Trujic. Swedish champion Malmo needed only 14 minutes to cancel out a two-goal first leg deficit at home to Salzburg as goals from Nikola Djurdjic and Markus Rosenberg had the Austrian champion reeling. Vladimir Rodic scored the third three minutes before halftime to give Malmo a 3-0 win and 3-2 on aggregate. It was the eighth time in a row that Salzburg has gone out in the qualifying rounds since Red Bull took over the club in 2005. Celtic went through 1-0 on aggregate while Skenderbeu's 2-0 win over the Moldovan champion gave it a 4-0 aggregate win. Shakhtar Donetsk brushed aside Fenerbahce 3-0 to qualify and Brugge beat Panathinaikos by the same score to win 4-2 on aggregate.BATE Borisov, which beat Videoton 1-0 for a 2-1 aggregate win, Maccabi Tel Aviv and FC Basel also qualified. — Reuters
