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Champions League round-up: Leverkusen knock out Lazio

Celebrations for Bayer Leverkusen
Image: Bayer Leverkusen: reach Champions League group stage

Bayer Leverkusen, CSKA Moscow, BATE and Astana all qualified for the Champions League group stages on Wednesday night.

Bayer Leverkusen turned their play-off around by beating 10-man Lazio 3-0 at home.

The Germans trailed 1-0 from the first leg, but levelled things when Hakan Calhanoglu scored in the 40th minute.

Three minutes after the interval, they had another goal as Admir Mehmedi smashed in, and the Italian visitors then had Mauricio sent off in the 68th minute before their misery was completed in the 88th, Karim Bellarabi sealing Bayer's 3-1 aggregate win.

Also through after coming from behind are CSKA Moscow, who were 2-1 down against Sporting Lisbon from the first leg in Portugal but won the return encounter in Russia 3-1 to triumph 4-3 overall.

Sporting increased their advantage through Teofilo Gutierrez's first-half strike, but CSKA replied after the break through a Seydou Doumbia double and Ahmed Musa effort, with the away side then being reduced to 10 men in stoppage time as Joao Mario was dismissed.

BATE Borisov lost 2-1 to Partizan Belgrade in Serbia but, with the tie finishing 2-2, progressed on away goals, Igor Stasevich providing the crucial strike for the Belarusians before Maksim Zhavnerchik's own-goal and substitute Ivan Saponjic's stoppage-time effort.

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Astana became the first Kazakhstani club to qualify for the group stage as their 1-1 draw with APOEL Nicosia in Cyprus saw them win 2-1 overall. Semir Stilic levelled the tie before Nemanja Maksimovic replied for Astana late on.

The Champions League group stage draw takes place at 4.45pm UK time on Thursday.

Champions League draw seedings:

Pot 1: Barcelona, Chelsea, Bayern Munich, Juventus, Benfica, Paris Saint-Germain, Zenit St. Petersburg and PSV Eindhoven.

Pot 2: Real Madrid, Atlético, Porto, Arsenal, Man Utd, Valencia, Bayer Leverkusen, Man City

Pot 3: Shakhtar Donetsk, Sevilla, Lyon, Dynamo Kiev, Olympiakos, CSKA Moscow, Galatasaray, Roma

Pot 4: BATE, Borussia Monchengladbach, Wolfsburg, Dinamo Zagreb, Maccabi Tel-Aviv, Gent, Malmo, Astana

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