Youth League: Leverkusen and Brest reach Round of 16

Leverkusen and Brest qualify for the next round in contrasting fashion.

Bayer Leverkusen and Brest qualified for the last 16 of the UEFA Youth League on Wednesday, with the German side overcoming a three-goal deficit to beat Club Brugge 4-3, while Brest edged out Maccabi Haifa on penalties.

Leverkusen looked down and out at half-time in their match, trailing 3-0 at home to Club Brugge. However, the German side came out fighting in the second half and pulled a goal back through Timothy Fosu-Mensah. Iker Bravo then gave Leverkusen hope with a second goal in the 70th minute before Fosu-Mensah completed his hat-trick to level the scores.

With just two minutes of normal time remaining, Leverkusen completed the comeback when Zidan Sertdemir scored the winner. The victory means that Leverkusen finish top of Group B, while Club Brugge finish second.

In the other Group B match, Porto beat Rangers 3-1 to finish third in the group. Porto took the lead in the 12th minute through Fabio Silva, but Rangers levelled the scores just before half-time through Ciaran Dickson.

Porto regained the lead in the 55th minute when Goncalo Borges scored, and the Portuguese side sealed the victory with a third goal from Rodrigo Conceicao in the 89th minute.

Brest qualified for the last 16 as runners-up in Group A after a 4-3 penalty shoot-out win over Maccabi Haifa. The match finished 1-1 after 90 minutes, with Brest taking the lead through Mathias Phaeton in the 18th minute before Maccabi Haifa levelled through Shapi Suliman in the 55th minute.

In the penalty shoot-out, Brest goalkeeper Yaou Matho made two saves to help his side progress to the next round. Maccabi Haifa finished third in the group, while Dinamo Zagreb finished bottom after a 2-0 defeat to Inter Milan.

The draw for the last 16 of the UEFA Youth League will be held on Friday, 17 December.