Fenerbahce beat Sturm Graz again to ease into the Champions League play-offs

[p]After being dominated in Turkey throughout last week’s first-leg encounter, [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/sturm-danijel/WS55wx0h/"]Sturm[/a] Graz needed to win by at least two clear goals to avoid elimination within the 90 minutes – something they hadn’t done in eight European home games prior to tonight.[/p][p]However, it was Talisca who threatened first, with the Brazilian almost making it four goals in as many UCL battles this term, only for a good stop from [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/khudyakov-daniil/Q1EgNAQs/"]Daniil Khudyakov[/a] to prevent the ball from going into the bottom-left corner. [/p][p]The Brazilian might have done better from the edge of the box on 26 minutes, but could only hit a first-time shot straight at Khudyakov.[/p][p]That was Sturm’s cue to rally, and after [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/seidl-simon/YoxGfUGl/"]Simon Seidl[/a] headed over and had a shot blocked either side of the half-hour mark, [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/stankovic-jon/Sd2KzpFi/"]Jon Gorenc Stankovic[/a] saw a header near the penalty spot thwarted by [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/gunok-mert/ILtHj3sO/"]Mert Gunok[/a].[/p][p]It was an encouraging end to the first half for the Austrians, but with [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/fenerbahce/MsbmracL/"]Fenerbahce[/a] conceding no more than one goal in each of their last five European away games, Sturm remained on the brink.[/p][p]For Fenerbahce, the break came at the ideal time, and they were content to keep their hosts chasing the ball in the early second-half minutes, with a poor shot off target from Talisca more or less summarising the first hour of play.[/p][p][b]Triple changes from both benches brought about hope of an uptick in tempo, and right on cue, Talisca was given a golden chance to keep his 100% UCL scoring record alive when [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/petrovic-petar/rk733Rv9/"]Petar Petrovic[/a] fouled him inside the box. The Brazilian stepped up and fired in low past Khudyakov from 12 yards, all but sealing progress for his side.[/b][/p][embed guid="1e6a7c76-ce29-4a5c-a95c-e1db2a4f792e" url="https://x.com/Fenerbahce/status/2087271572071436577" social-type="twitter" /][p]The rest of the evening was a formality, though it might have been given some extra spice had [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/hold-jacob/275C1hxT/"]Jacob Hodl[/a] not seen a shot inside the box blocked wide with 15 minutes to play.[/p][p]From there, Sturm’s play became all the more desperate, and after [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/akturkoglu-muhammed-kerem/UDQZylXj/"]Kerem Akturkoğlu[/a] was denied late on by an excellent save at close range, Fenerbahce held out for their first away clean sheet in UCL qualifying since 2022.[/p][p]The Yellow Canaries’ last remaining barrier to a first UCL main draw appearance in 18 years – [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/lyon/2akflumR/"]Lyon[/a] or [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/sparta-prague/6qA358jH/"]Sparta Prague[/a] – will be determined later tonight.[/p][p][b]Flashscore Man of the Match: [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/talisca-anderson/IaSmtEpe/"]Talisca[/a] ([a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/fenerbahce/MsbmracL/"]Fenerbahce[/a])[/b][/p][p][b][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/game/soccer/fenerbahce-MsbmracL/sturm-graz-zsktjfsD/?mid=StveztzB"]Click here for more on the match[/a][/b][/p][image alt="Match momentum" id="862754e3-f7af-4885-9014-ba98d3252c73" credit-line="Flashscore" guid="fcc98ed6-325e-4e15-9b8e-197c41be190a" original-width="3840" original-height="2160" /]