Red Star Belgrade reached the Champions League group stage for the second successive season after a 1-1 home draw with Young Boys sent the 1991 European Cup winners through on away goals on Tuesday.
They were joined by the Croatian champions, Dinamo Zagreb, who advanced with a 1-1 draw at Rosenborg following a 2-0 first-leg win. Olympiakos won 2-1 at Krasnodar to complete a 6-1 aggregate drubbing of the Russian side.
Roared on by a fervent 50,000 home crowd, Red Star, who earned a 2-2 draw in the reverse fixture, were on the back foot for an hour and rode their luck at times before Aleksa Vukanovic put them ahead.
Milan Rodic missed Red Star’s best chance in the first half when he headed over the bar before Michel Aebischer twice went close to swinging the tie Young Boys’ way.
The Red Star keeper, Milan Borjan, almost spilled a deflected cross into his own net and then saved from Roger Assalé before the home side broke the deadlock with their first purposeful move.
Marko Marin released Rodic with a delightful pass and the left-back raced down the flank to deliver a sharp cross for Vukanovic to head home from six yards at the near post.
The home side endured a tense last 10 minutes, though, after El Fardou Ben Nabouhane turned Saidy Janko’s shot into his own net.
Dinamo fell behind on the night to an early Babajide David goal before Amer Gojak struck in the 71st minute to put the tie beyond the Norwegian side’s reach.
Olympiakos arrived in Krasnodar with a 4-0 first-leg cushion and, though the home side gave themselves a glimmer of hope through Daniil Utkin’s goal in the 10th minute, Youssef El-Arabi scored twice for the visitors to book their group-stage berth.
