Benfica and Rangers advance to Champions League play-offs

Benfica and Rangers have secured their place in the Champions League qualifying play-off round after eliminating their opponents in the third round on Wednesday morning (IST).

According to UEFA, Portuguese club Benfica secured their place in the Champions League qualifying play-offs by defeating French side Nice 2-0 in the second leg of their third-round tie at Lisbon’s Da Luz Stadium.

Benfica won the match thanks to first-half goals from Fredrik Aursnes and Andreas Schjelderup.

This victory gave Benfica a 4–0 aggregate lead, having won the first leg of the third round 2–0 in Nice last week.

Statistically, Benfica were superior to Nice, with 59 per cent possession and 21 shots, five of which were on target.

In the next round of the Champions League qualifiers, Benfica will face Turkish club Fenerbahçe to secure a place in the finals of the 2025/26 season.

Meanwhile, Scottish club Rangers advanced to the play-off round despite losing 2–1 to Czech club Viktoria Plzeň in the second leg of the third qualifying round at the Doosan Arena in Plzeň.

Rangers were defeated in this match due to goals scored by Rafiu Durosinmi and Svetozar Marković for Viktoria Plzeň, while Rangers equalised through Lyall Cameron.

However, Rangers still qualified for the play-offs, having won 4–2 on aggregate after a 3–0 victory against Viktoria Plzeň in the first leg of the third round.

Statistically, Viktoria Plzeň appeared more threatening, taking 27 shots, 10 of which were on target, while Rangers had 60 per cent possession.

They will next face Belgian side Club Brugge in the play-offs for a place in the finals.

Here are the complete results of the second leg of the third round of the 2025/2026 Champions League Qualifiers:

Qarabag 5 – 1 Shkendija (6-1)

Fenerbahce 5 – 2 Feyenoord (6-4)

Copenhagen 5 – 0 Malmo (5-0)

Pafos 2 – 0 Dynamo Kyiv (3-0)

Viktoria Plzen 2 – 1 Rangers (2-4)

Club Brugge 3 – 2 RB Salzburg (4-2)

Slovan Bratislava 1 – 0 Kairat (1-1, pen 3-4)

Ferencvaros 3 – 0 Ludogoretz (3-0)

Crvena Zvezda 1 – 1 Lech Poznan (4-2)