Sporting Lisbon advanced to the next round of the Champions League by eliminating FC Twente following a 1-1 draw on Tuesday. Twente, managed by former England coach Steve McClaren, lost on the away goal rule, a week after the two sides drew 0-0 draw in Lisbon. Defender Douglas put Twente ahead after two minutes with a powerful header off a Kenneth Perez corner but teammate Peter Wisgerhof scored an own goal in the last minute of added time to send Sporting through. “That's football,” McClaren said. “You are never sure until the end of the game but the players didn't deserve this. It's the cruelest way to go out.” Immediately after setting up Douglas, Perez set up veteran forward and club captain Blaise Nkufo, whose close-range header went wide. Sporting created a few chances in response with striker Djalo coming close with a long-range, left-footed shot in the 11th minute and Moutinho forcing a diving save from Twente goalkeeper Nikolay Mihaylov. Douglas almost doubled Twente's advantage in the 82nd minute but his header from the edge of the area was saved by Sporting goalkeeper Rui Patricio. Twente lost to Arsenal at the same stage of the competition last season. Mihaylov, standing in for suspended goalkeeper Sander Boschker, denied Moutinho again in the 56th after the Sporting skipper had been fed by Miguel Veloso. Twente had Mihaylov to thank in the 90th as Douglas almost beat his own goalkeeper under pressure from substitute Felipe Caicedo only for the Bulgarian to clear the ball out of danger. With some celebrating Twente fans already heading home, Wisgerhof beat his own goalkeeper toward the end of added time to put the Portuguese side through. Israel's Maccabi Haifa produced a remarkable comeback to beat Kazakhstan champion Aktobe Lento 4-3 and stay on course for a place among the European elite in the Champions League group stages. The victory was enough to put the Israelis into the final playoff round with the first leg having finished goalless. Greek side Panathinaikos, which like Sporting also reached the last 16 last season, overturned a 3-1 first leg deficit against Czech club Sparta Prague, winning the second leg 3-0 in Athens. Belgian club Anderlecht, holding a 5-0 first leg advantage against Turkish league runner-up Sivasspor, suffered a scare in the return but went through after a 3-1 away defeat. Austrians FC Salzburg won 2-1 at Dinamo Zagreb for a 3-2 aggregate win. The playoff round includes the likes of Arsenal, Atletico Madrid and Fiorentina who were the fourth-placed finishers in the English, Spanish and Italian leagues respectively.
