Atletico's Aguero draws the plaudits

The Atletico Madrid coach Javier Aguirre heaped praise on Sergio Aguero after the Argentina striker played a starring role in Wednesday's 4-0 mauling of Schalke. He scored once and had a hand in his side's other three goals. "Aguero is a player who gives you something different. He is young, but he's matured a lot," said Aguirre. "His presence, and that of Maniche, helped give us that something extra to win."

Aguero set the ball rolling for Atletico with the opening goal of the game in the 22nd minute, before his strike partner Diego Forlan made it 2-0 just after half-time. The victory was sealed with two more goals in the last eight minutes from Luis Garcia and Maxi Rodriguez's penalty as Atletico stormed through to the Champions League group stages for the first time since the 1996/97 season. The Marseille coach Eric Gerets was relieved to get through to the group stages after seeing his side struggle against Brann Bergen in the second leg of their third qualifying round tie.

Mamadou Niang capitalised on two defensive errors in the second half to seal the French side's passage through with a 2-1 win on the night, and 3-1 victory on aggregate, but it was not all plain sailing for the hosts. Brann equalised at the Stade Velodrome with 15 minutes left and then needed to score just once more to go through on away goals, but Marseille held on before Niang made the game safe with a poacher's finish in injury time.

"Everyone was expecting us to qualify but we knew the result from the first leg could make this a tricky game," said Gerets. "All it needed was one long ball and a slip for them to score." Fiorentina will compete in the Champions League after an eight-year absence, after a 0-0 draw at Slavia Prague saw them complete a 2-0 aggregate win. "For three years we have merited the Champions League, and now we are here," said a delighted Viola coach Cesare Prandelli, whose side finished fourth in Serie A last season.

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