KuPS out of Champions League after failing to second defeat to Sabah Baku

[p][b][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/game/soccer/kups-nLBbqJDS/sabah-baku-fNGcxbyr/?mid=4vVne52s"]KuPS 0-2 Sabah Baku (0-3 on aggregate)[/a][/b][/p][p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/kups/nLBbqJDS/"]KuPS[/a] would have been confident of overturning the narrow loss they suffered in Azerbaijan a week earlier, but instead a second home loss in as many UCL matches this summer was their undoing, as Sabah made it four wins from four on debut in Europe's top tier.[/p][p]A goalless first half, in which [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/moreno-jaime/SnTwttL9/"]Jaime Moreno[/a] had the best chance for the hosts, put the pressure on the Finnish champions going into the final 45 minutes of the tie. That pressure told just seven minutes after the break, [b]as [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/puchacz-tymoteusz/lWfWDtt2/"]Tymoteusz Puchacz[/a]'s low cross was met at the near post by [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/simic-veljko/rwlU2XQB/"]Veljko Simic[/a], who notched his second goal of the tie.[/b][/p][embed guid="0c40c959-c153-40a4-b415-81dcf92f0228" url="https://x.com/KuPS1923/status/2082153236576735661" social-type="twitter" /][p]A VAR check failed to come to KuPS' rescue, and the tie was all but settled with 20 minutes to play, when [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/severina-xander/lGNECiI6/"]Xander Severina[/a] picked out [b]Joy-[a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/mickels-joy-lance/zkEPknlk/"]Lance Mickel[/a] in space inside the penalty area, and his shot had too much on it for [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/kreidl-johannes/U5piqW3F/"]Johannes Kreidl[/a].[/b][/p][p]There was not even a consolation for the Kuopio side, who now drop into the UEFA Europa League qualifiers, where there first opponents will be the losers of the UCL tie Bulgaria's [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/levski-sofia/E5OOzgs4/"]Levski Sofia[/a] or Romanian side [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/fc-u-craiova/nNhLpi8p/"]Universitatea Craiova[/a]. Levski lead 1-0 from the first leg.[/p][p]Sabah, only formed nine years ago, move onto the third round of qualifiers, and will face either [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/lech-poznan/OpNH7Ouf/"]Lech Poznan[/a] of Poland or [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/aarhus/OOXnKGbO/"]Aarhus[/a] of Denmark.[/p][p][b][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/soccer/europe/champions-league/"]Follow all the UCL qualifiers on Flashscore.[/a][/b][/p]