Cypriot champions AEL will take on Linfield next week in the second qualifying round of the Champions League after the Northern Irish side defeated B36 Torshavn of the Faroe Islands 4-3 on penalties on Tuesday night.
Both encounters had ended goalless forcing the contest into a nervy penalty shoot-out where David Jeffrey’s kept their cool.
Linfield had been well-favoured in the tie, but after being held 0-0 at home in the first leg, they failed to break the deadlock again in 120 minutes of action in Torshavn.
Once the penalties began, however, they immediately took the upper hand as Klaemint Matras missed the opener for the hosts and after Jim Ervin, Gary Browne, Michael Carville and Brian McCaul scored without fail for Linfield, Lukasz Cieslewicz missed the decisive kick for Torshavn.
Pambos Christodoulou’s AEL only returned to Cyprus on the weekend having been in preseason training in Poland for almost a month.
They will host Linfield in the first leg in Limassol on July 18 in what will be the Cypriot club’s first ever Champions League game.
Cyprus Weekly