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Young Boys celebrate their entry into the league phase of the Europa League.
Keystone
Young Boys leave no stone unturned in their play-off second leg at home against Slovan Bratislava and qualify for the Europa League stage with a 4-2 aggregate win.
YB followed up the 1-0 win in Bratislava with a 3-2 victory at home. New signing Armin Gigovic showed his best side in front of just over 15,000 spectators. On his debut in the Wankdorf, the striker, who joined from relegated Bundesliga side Holstein Kiel, scored twice: 1-0 in the 29th minute and 3-1 seven minutes after the break. The Bosnian international was joined on the scoresheet by Chris Bedia (37) for YB.
Slovan Bratislava had their chances and were particularly dangerous in the opening stages of the game, when the Bernese side needed their strong goalkeeper Marvin Keller to prevent them from falling behind. However, YB kept the tension in the duel against the Slovakian champions at a pleasantly low level despite the two goals to make it 2:1 and 3:2.
The reward for surviving the only qualifying round that YB had to contest is more attractive opponents and higher revenue, Europa League instead of Conference League. Giorgio Contini's team will find out who they will face in their twelfth league or group stage in the last 15 years on Friday at 13:00 in Monaco. FC Basel is definitely not one of the eight opponents, as matches between equal nations are not yet possible.
Many would probably not have bet on Lausanne-Sport before the play-off clash against Besiktas. But the Vaud side surprised everyone by winning the second leg in Istanbul 1:0 (the first leg ended 1:1).
Besiktas' squad market value is almost five times that of Lausanne, but Peter Zeidler's team earned their place in the league phase with a fighting performance. Nathan Butler-Oyedeji scored the only goal shortly before the break. Shortly after the break, Besiktas defender Felix Uduokhai was sent off.
Servette's European Cup qualifying campaign ended on a sobering note. Having already failed to qualify for the Champions League and Europa League, the Geneva side also failed to qualify for the league phase of the Conference League.
The runners-up were eliminated in extra time against Shakhtar Donetsk. As in the first leg, the second leg was also tied 1-1 after 90 minutes. After Lilian Njoh's opening goal, the Brazilian Kevin equalized for the visitors from Ukraine. Kaua Elias then decided the game in Donetsk's favor in extra time.
