Porto and Zenit St Petersburg swept into the Champions League group stage, helped by inspired displays from Yacine Brahimi and Hulk, on Tuesday while hapless Celtic were knocked out of the competition for a second time in three weeks.
Brahimi, who shone for Algeria in the World Cup, curled in a majestic free kick and set up a second goal for Jackson Martinez to give Porto a 2-0 win over Lille in their playoff round second leg tie.
Hulk scored twice, converting a penalty and then barging his way through the Standard Liege midfield, as Zenit beat the Belgians 3-0 despite playing the second half with 10 men.
Celtic, beaten 6-1 on aggregate by Legia Warsaw in the third round only to be reprieved because the Polish champions fielded an ineligible player, slunk out for a second time with a 1-0 home defeat against Slovenian champions Maribor.
APOEL Nicosia, 4-0 winners over Aalborg, and Belarus champions BATE Borisov, who beat Slovakian counter-parts Slovan Bratislava 3-0, also qualified.
BATE, full name Borisov Automobile and Tractor Electronics, went ahead through Mikhail Gordeychuk four minutes before halftime and two late goals from Sergei Kryvets and Vitali Rodionov completed a 4-1 aggregate win.
Their Slovakian opponents had Seydouba Soumah sent off in the 79th minute.
Cypriot side APOEL, who reached the quarter-finals in 2011/12, outclassed Aalborg as they qualified for the group stage for a third time.
Vinicius, Tomas De Vincenti, Stathis Aloneftis and Cillian Sheridan shared the goals as they completed a 5-1 aggregate win over the Danes.
