Julio Velázquez, former coach of Real Zaragoza, was left brushing with his fingers to play in the Champions League, something that would have been a milestone for both Levski Sofia and the Salamanca coach himself. But AEK Athens was far superiorin the second leg of the last qualifying phase and beat the Bulgarian team 4-0.
This second leg was reached with a goalless draw on aggregate and everything was decided in Athens. In just half an hour of play, the Greek team was already clearly ahead on the scoreboard with goals from Luka Jovic and Varga, twice.
The duel was already seen as a sentence when in the second half, Marin scored from the penalty spot to make it 4-0 with which the match ended. In this cruel way, Velázquez’s dream of playing in the Champions League for the first time in his career as a coach ended.
Although Levski Sofia has a consolation prize because they will be in this edition of the Europa League, at least they will play in the second European competition this season and return to Europe after seven seasons. Their path in the tournament will be known this Friday at 13:00, the date on which the draw is made.
