José Mourinho is one round away from taking Fenerbahce back into the Champions League for the first time in 17 years.
The storied head coach’s team surged into the Champions League qualifying playoffs by overturning a two-goal deficit in a 5-2 qualifying round win against Robin van Persie’s Feyenoord.
Fenerbahce went through 6-4 on aggregate and will face Benfica, where Mourinho got his first head coach job 25 years ago, with a place in the 36-team league phase at stake.
The first leg is in Istanbul next Wednesday with the return on 27 August at the Stadium of Light in Lisbon, where Mourinho lasted less than three months in 2000. Benfica advanced after beating Nice 2-0 at home, having won the first leg by the same score in France last week.
Fenerbahce last played in the group stage of the Champions League in 2008-09 and their biggest rivals, Galatasaray, are also in the draw as Turkish champions.
Fenerbahce had lost 2-1 in the Netherlands last week and fell further behind when the Feyenoord defender Tsuyoshi Watanabe scored in the 41st minute.
Mourinho’s players rallied with two goals before half-time – the second by the Colombia forward Jhon Durán, on a season-long loan from Saudi club Al Nassr. The former Manchester United midfielder Fred padded the lead early in the second half before Talisca completed the scoring.
Rangers advanced to the playoffs, 4-2 on aggregate, against Viktoria Plzen despite a 2-1 defeat in the Czech Republic.
The Scottish club will welcome Club Brugge in next week’s playoff first leg, after the Belgian side staged a 3-2 comeback win against Salzburg to win 4-2 on aggregate.
Pafos, champions of Cyprus, beat Dynamo Kyiv 2-0 to advance 3-0 on aggregate. Pafos will play Red Star Belgrade, the 1991 European Cup winners, who beat Lech Poznan 4-2 on aggregate after a 1-1 draw in Serbia.
Copenhagen beat its near neighbour Malmö 5-0, one week after a first-leg scoreless draw. The Danish side’s reward is a two-legged playoff against the Swiss champions Basel.
Qarabag of Azerbaijan routed North Macedonian champion Shkendija 5-1 and 6-1 on aggregate, to earn a playoff against Ferencvaros, a 3-0 winner in Budapest against Ludogorets of Bulgaria.
Kazakhstan’s Kairat Almaty won a penalty shootout at Slovan Bratislava, after the teams drew 1-1 on aggregate. They will travel to Scotland for the playoff first leg against Celtic.
