Dynamo and Rangers exit early from Champions
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Shanghai Daily, August 5, 2011
Champions League regulars Dynamo Kiev and Rangers suffered early exits in the qualifying rounds on Wednesday while Benfica safely survived its tie against Trabzonspor.
Three players were sent off as Malmo snatched an 80th minute equalizer to draw 1-1 at home to Rangers and goes through 2-1 on aggregate. Dynamo, which took part in the group stage for 12 seasons in a row until 2009/10, will miss out for the second time running after being knocked out by Rubin Kazan where it lost the second leg 1-2.
A 1-1 draw at Trabzonspor was enough for twice former winner Benfica while Twente Enschede, FC Zurich, Sturm Graz and APOEL also went into the final round of the qualifiers following Wednesday's 12 ties.
Dynamo, three-time beaten semifinalists, left former AC Milan and Chelsea striker Andriy Shevchenko on the bench at Rubin as it attempted to claw back from a 0-2 home defeat. It never looked likely as Vladimir Dyadyun and Alexei Medvedev scored in each half for the Russians before Oleg Gusev replied late on.
Rangers, held 1-1 at home by 1979 runner-up Malmo, had Steven Whittaker sent off in the 19th minute for throwing the ball at an opponent's head but still went in front through Nikica Jelavic five minutes later.
The Scottish champion, 10-time Champions League participants, also had Madjid Bougherra dismissed in the 66th minute before Jelavic missed a golden chance to score another and Malmo had Ricardinho ordered off.
Finally, Jiloan Hamad smashed in a rebound with 10 minutes left to send the Swedes through.
Belgian champion Racing Genk held on for a 1-1 draw away to Partizan Belgrade to knock out the former European Cup finalist 3-2 on aggregate.
Nemanja Tomic put the Serbs ahead five minutes before halftime but Jelle Vossen levelled with a penalty just before the hour. The visitors then survived waves of attacks, teenager Lazar Markovic missing a golden chance for the hosts in the dying minutes.
Benfica, twice champions and five-time runners up, fielded an all-foreign starting line-up including eight South Americans as it took a 2-0 first leg lead to Turkey.
The Portuguese League runner-up extended it with a 19th minute goal by Nolito, who collected Javier Saviola's pass and drifted past two opponents before scoring.
Paulo Henrique equalized before halftime but it was not nearly enough for the host.
Argentine defender Luis Ibanez swept home a rebound in stoppage time to give Croatian champion Dinamo Zagreb, which last qualified in 1999/00, a 1-0 win over HJK Helsinki as it qualified 3-1.
Forward Admir Mehmedi missed a first-half penalty but atoned with a second-half goal to give FC Zurich a 1-0 win over Standard Liege.
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