Tuesday Champions League Roundup: La Liga Sends 5th Team to Group Stage

Spain will have five teams in the 2015-16 UEFA Champions League group stage after Valencia completed a 4-3 aggregate victory over Monaco in the second leg of the two teams' playoff on Tuesday night.

Andrea Raggi and Elderson scored as Monaco edged an entertaining match 2-1, but Valencia advanced thanks to a 3-1 win in last week's first leg. Alvaro Negredo scored a deft chip to give the Spanish side an early lead, and Monaco were unable to erase the deficit.

Both games started with Valencia scoring early goals. Last week in the first leg at the Mestalla, Rodrigo did the honors for the Spanish side in just the fourth minute. Negredo matched that feat at the Stade Louis II, but trumped his teammate with a gorgeous lobbed finish following a giveaway by Fabinho.

Such fast starts bode well for Valencia's prospects to entertain in the group stage, but as ESPN's Dermot Corrigan pointed out on Twitter, Nuno Espirito Santo's squad will probably need strengthening in order to advance to the knockout round.

For now, though, the focus will be on Spain after La Liga became the first European league to send five teams to the group stage. Barcelona, Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid qualified via their final league positions last term, and Sevilla claimed a spot by winning the Europa League.

England could have had five representatives in 2012-13, but the rules at the time prohibited any nation from sending any more than four. Chelsea won the Champions League in 2011-12 but finished a disappointing sixth in the Premier League that term. But UEFA gave the Blues entry into the group stage at the expense of Tottenham Hotspur, who had finished fourth in the league.

No such controversy will arise this time. Instead, La Liga will earn plaudits—deservedly so—for a unique achievement. Recent results have highlighted Spain's ascendancy in European competitions, with Barcelona, Real Madrid and Sevilla winning UEFA's four most recent major club tournaments. Sending five teams to the group stage this season only underlines La Liga's status as a European powerhouse. 

Andreas Hillergren/Associated Press

Malmo send Celtic out

Hosts Malmo defeated Celtic 2-0 to advance to the group stage and eliminate the Scottish champions, who had a goal disallowed controversially.

Trailing 3-2 after the first leg, Malmo took the lead via captain Markus Rosenberg, who had been suspended for the match in Glasgow. Nir Bitton appeared to equalize for Celtic in the closing moments of the first half, but the referee ruled out the goal for a foul on the visitors.

Replays suggested it was a poor decision, instead showing that Malmo defender Kari Arnason had handled the ball before Bitton put into the net. Had it stood, the goal would have given Celtic a 4-3 aggregate lead at the moment. Instead, Malmo doubled their advantage in the 54th minute as Dedryck Boyata took the final touch into his team's net following a Felipe Carvalho header.

“We were not even close to the level we can be at,” Celtic manager Ronny Deila said, according to Ewan Murray of the Guardian. “We looked very uncomfortable on the ball. We didn’t want the ball and looked very frightened and scared out there. That’s very, very disappointing."

The Swedish club has now qualified for the Champions League group stage in back-to-back seasons. Celtic, meanwhile, crashed out at the final hurdle for the second straight year. The defeat prompted tough questions for Deila, as multiple commentators pointed out on social media:

Celtic's consolation will be a place in the Europa League. Last season, the Hoops progressed through the group stage before losing to Inter Milan in the round of 32.

Covering the continent

Yevheniy Kravs/Associated Press

In Ukraine, hosts Shakhtar Donetsk came from behind to earn a 2-2 draw with Rapid Wien and claim a 3-2 aggregate victory.

The Austrian side overturned an early deficit with goals from Louis Schaub and Steffen Hoffmann to take a 2-1 lead on the night. But Shakhtar, who had led through Marlo's early strike, responded through Oleksandr Gladkiy midway through the first half.

Rapid nearly scored in stoppage time, but Philipp Prosenik hit the post with a shot that would have won the tie for the visitors.

In Israel, Maccabi Tel Aviv held Basel to a 1-1 draw to finish off a 3-3 aggregate victory. Eran Zahavi, who scored twice in the first leg, netted the crucial goal for the home side after Basel had taken the lead through Luca Zuffi.

The result represented a bit of revenge for Maccabi, who lost to Basel in both the Champions League and Europa League in 2013-14.

Finally, in Croatia, 10-man Dinamo Zagreb routed Skenderbeu 4-1 to complete a 6-2 aggregate win. El Arabi Hilal Soudani scored twice, while Armin Hodzic and Jeremy Taravel netted once for the hosts.

Skenderbeu, who were trying to become the first Albanian side to qualify for the group stage, briefly pulled level thanks to Esquerdinha, who struck just moments after Soudani had opened the scoring.

Goncalo Santos drew a red card early in the second half for Dinamo, who qualified for the group stage for the first time since 2012-13.

Draw taking shape

Five of the 10 playoff ties are now complete. Five more will wrap up Wednesday evening, and then the 32-team field for the group stage will be set. 

The group-stage draw is scheduled for Thursday in Monaco. The 32 teams will fall into one of four pots, with one club from each pot heading to each of the eight groups.

As ESPN's Dale Johnson reported on Twitter, the composition of the four pots is starting to come into focus:

As Johnson noted, Pot 1—which contains the seeded team—is set. It features holders Barcelona, along with Bayern Munich, Benfica, Chelsea, Juventus, Paris Saint-Germain, PSV Eindhoven and Zenit St. Petersburg.

Some onlookers will be surprised to see PSV and Zenit ranked among the top seeds ahead of 2013-14 winners Real Madrid, but every team will have a chance to prove its worth once the group stage begins.

Follow @MiguelCominguez