Five more teams realised their dreams of reaching the 2017-18 Champions League group stage on Wednesday, with Liverpool and Sporting CP both scoring freely in the second legs of their play-off encounters.

theScore looks back at all the action from the latest slate of fixtures:

CSKA Moscow 2-0 Young Boys (3-0 aggregate)

Goals

• 45th minute – Georgi Shchennikov (CSKA Moscow)
• 65th minute – Alan Dzagoev (CSKA Moscow)

Stats

Summary

CSKA Moscow kept clean sheets in both legs against Swiss side Young Boys to reach the group stage of the Champions League for a fourth consecutive season.

Steaua Bucharest 1-5 Sporting CP (1-5 aggregate)

Goals

• 13th minute – Seydou Doumbia (Sporting CP)
• 20th minute – Junior Morais (Steaua Bucharest)
• 60th minute – Marcos Acuna (Sporting CP)
• 64th minute – Gelson Martins (Sporting CP)
• 75th minute – Bas Dost (Sporting CP)
• 88th minute – Rodrigo Battaglia (Sporting CP)

Stats

Summary

Sporting CP produced a scintillating away performance in Romania, sweeping four goals past Steaua Bucharest in the final 30 minutes alone.

FC Copenhagen 2-1 Qarabag (2-2 aggregate)

Goals

• 45th minute – Federico Santander (FC Copenhagen)
• 63rd minute – Dino Ndlovu (Qarabag)
• 66th minute – Andrija Pavlovic (FC Copenhagen)

Stats

Summary

Qarabag came away with one of the more surprising results in the play-off round, as the Azerbaijani outfit edged out Danish club FC Copenhagen on away goals.

Liverpool 4-2 Hoffenheim (6-3 aggregate)

Goals

• 10th minute – Emre Can (Liverpool)
• 18th minute – Mohamed Salah (Liverpool)
• 21st minute – Emre Can (Liverpool)
• 28th minute – Mark Uth (Hoffenheim)
• 63rd minute – Roberto Firmino (Liverpool)
• 79th minute – Sandro Wagner (Hoffenheim)

Stats

Summary

Liverpool ended this contest as early as possible, with Emre Can coming close to a hat-trick in an utter annihilation of Hoffenheim. For the first time, England has five representatives in the Champions League group stage.

Slavia Prague 0-0 APOEL Nicosia (0-2 aggregate)

Goals

Stats

Summary

APOEL parked the bus and earned the result it needed against a desperate Slavia Prague.

(Photos courtesy: Action Images)

Liverpool’s concerted chaos books group-stage spot at Hoffenheim’s expense

Liverpool’s concerted chaos books group-stage spot at Hoffenheim’s expense

The path to Kiev became clearer for the 32 teams competing in the Champions League after learning what awaits in the group stage following Thursday’s draw in Monaco.

Clubs vying for a chance to compete in next May’s final at the Olimpiyskiy National Sports Complex in the Ukrainian capital discovered their opponents for the next phase of the competition, with titleholder Real Madrid lumped in a group that includes Borussia Dortmund, Tottenham, and APOEL.

Meanwhile, last season’s runner-up, Juventus, faces a tough route to the knockout stage after being drawn with Barcelona, Olympiacos, and Sporting CP.

Here’s how the draw played out:

Group A

Benfica, Manchester United, FC Basel, CSKA Moscow

Group B

Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain, Anderlecht, Celtic

Group C

Chelsea, Atletico Madrid, AS Roma, Qarabag

Group D

Juventus, Barcelona, Olympiacos, Sporting CP

Group E

Spartak Moscow, Sevilla, Liverpool, Maribor

Group F

Shakhtar Donetsk, Manchester City, Napoli, Feyenoord

Group G

AS Monaco, FC Porto, Besiktas, RB Leipzig

Group H

Real Madrid, Borussia Dortmund, Tottenham, APOEL

The first matchday of the world’s most lucrative club football competition will kick off Sept. 12 and 13.

(Photos courtesy: Action Images)

How anti-climactic.

After leading Real Madrid’s march to the summit of La Liga and a second consecutive Champions League title, Portuguese superstar Cristiano Ronaldo won UEFA’s Men’s Player of the Year award Thursday for the third time in four seasons.

Ronaldo stiff-armed eternal rival Lionel Messi and evergreen goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon for the accolade.

The 32-year-old is the only player to claim the nascent honour on three occasions, breaking a tie with Messi.

Although Ronaldo scored just two goals in last season’s group stage, he came to life when Madrid most needed him. The Madeira native followed up a two-goal performance in the quarter-final first leg against Bayern Munich with a hat-trick at the Santiago Bernabeu, and produced another treble in the semi-final against Atletico Madrid.

Another two goals in the final sealed Madrid’s 12th win in the competition at the expense of Juventus.

Ronaldo enjoyed success in a more traditional No. 9 role, as manager Zinedine Zidane limited his minutes against smaller clubs in league and cup play.

What Madrid had by the end of the season was an in-form player whose ruthlessness helped Los Blancos make modern history in the Champions League.