Sion defeat Celtic in Europa League playoff
Swiss side Sion have beaten Glasgow Celtic 3-1 to reach the group stage of football’s Europa League.
Sion had already held the Scottish side to a scoreless draw last week in the away leg.
The two other Swiss teams playing on Thursday were less fortunate. Thun, the current leaders of the Swiss Super League, were eliminated by English side Stoke City 5-1 on aggregate, losing the return game 4-1.
Bern’s Young Boys could only manage a 2-2 draw at home against Portugal’s Braga, and were eliminated on the basis of the away goal rule. Last week’s game had also ended in a goalless draw.
Two Swiss teams will take part in the group stage of the Europa League – Sion and Zurich, which were eliminated from the lucrative Champions League by Bayern Munich on Tuesday.
Sion’s participation is however under a cloud. Uefa warned the club it faces being kicked out of the Europa League just hours before it club was to be included in the group stage draw.
Uefa is unhappy that the Swiss team eliminated Celtic using players signed in the offseason in apparent disregard of a Fifa transfer ban.
The draw on Friday decided that Sion will face Spain’s Atletico Madrid, Italy’s Udinese and French side Rennes. Zurich will take on Portuguese team Sporting Lisbon, Lazio of Rome and Romania’s Vaslui.
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