UEFA Champions League 2013: Arsenal roll in Turkey, Schalke held to draw

Thanks to some brilliant attacking play and a surprisingly poor performance by the hosts, Arsenal appear to be heading to the group stage of the Champions League. Fenerbahçe never provided much opposition for the Gunners, who ran out very comfortable 3-0 winners.

The Gunners were dominant to close the half, but didn’t manage to test Volkan Demirel. Crosses came into the Fener box constantly in the five minutes before the teams headed into the locker room, but they didn’t result in any shots on target.

Arsene Wenger’s lineup is a first choice group, as you would expect, with Santi Carzola getting the start in the midfield after Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain’s injury over the weekend.

• Alan Pardew needs to go

Greek side PAOK Salonika were originally penciled in for a Europa League spot, though have been given a shot at qualifying for the Champions League after Metalist Kharkiv were disqualified amidst match-fixing allegations. PAOK travel to Gelsenkirchen to play Schalke in the first leg of their Champions League playoff on Wednesday, hoping to qualify for the group stages for the first time in their history.

It’s a match of particular significance for PAOK’s Dutch coach Huub Stevens, who was appointed earlier this summer after being sacked by Schalke. PAOK, who finished second in the Greek Superleague last season, are without new attacking midfield signing Zvonimir Vukić, veteran defensive midfielder Pablo Gabriel García and young defenders Dimitris Konstantinidis and Stelios Pozatzidis for the trip, with all having been left out of Stevens’ squad.

Fener, who finished second in the Turkish Süper Lig last season, host the Gunners at the Şükrü Saracoğlu Stadium in the first leg, after beating Salzburg in the last round. They’ll look to bounce back after a poor start to their domestic season, losing 3-2 to Konyaspor on the weekend.

Fenerbahçe injuries and suspensions

The playoff round of the Champions League kicked off today with five matches that included an upset and a couple eyebrow raising results.

Just a quick reminder, these are all the first match of a two-leg tie. Here’s a recap of all the action.

AC Milan head into the second leg of their Champions League playoff tie with a crucial away goal, but an error from goalkeeper Christian Abbiati allowed PSV to score the equalizer.

When the match began it seemed that PSV would be the one to control the game’s destiny. Right from the start the hosts had Milan on the back foot. The first attempt came before 60 seconds were out, with Adam Maher picking up a pass from Tim Matavz but placing the resulting shot just wide of the post. Another early shot saw their roles reversed, with Matavz going wide this time, as PSV found it all too easy to get behind the Milan defense.

Vela set up the goal with a cross toward the back post, around 12 yards from goal, but the goal was all about the finish. Griezmann jumped up to hit a volley, his foot level with his head, and powered a scissor kick into the back of the net.

Sociedad doubled their lead just after the break with a goal that was just as good as the first. Haris Seferović appeared to have a bad angle at the goal and a couple of passing options when he picked up the ball on the left flank in the 50th minute, but instead opted to hit an audacious half-volley with his left foot from 35 yards. Incredibly, he connected perfectly and hit a rocket of a shot past Anthony Lopes, who was left stunned.

If you haven’t seen Antoine Griezmann’s awesome scissorbike goal from earlier on Tuesday, you should go ahead and watch that right now. When you’re done with that, you can watch another Real Sociedad player -- Haris Seferović -- score an equally absurd goal to double La Real’s lead in the Champions League playoff round.

Who decides to just wind up a 30-yard shot from a crappy angle like that? Good lord.

Antoine Griezmann. Master of the Scissorbike.

• Alan Pardew needs to go

Shakhter Karagandy are going to have to face the same brutal flight and partisan crowd next week that Celtic did on Tuesday, but they’ll be doing it with a serious advantage. They denied their visitors an away goal in a 2-0 win that puts them in excellent position to qualify for the Champions League group stage.

Celtic dominated the opening 10 minutes of the game, but the tables turned dramatically when they conceded a terrible set-piece goal in the 12th minute. Off a throw in, Nikola Vasiljevic won a header in the box and flicked backwards towards Andrei Finonchenko, who was in an excellent position to finish and give his team the lead.

The rossoneri haven’t beaten PSV in their last three meetings, and have lost both of their last two games at the Philips Stadion. Incumbent PSV coach Phillip Cocu played in both of those matches, and will be hoping to mastermind another win this time around -- albeit from the bench, rather than the midfield.

PSV Eindhoven injuries and suspensions

Olympique Lyonnais injuries and suspensions

Out: Rémy Vercoutre (knee). In doubt: Mouhamadou Dabo (hamstring), Rachid Ghezzal (back).

Celtic travel to Kazakhstan for their crucial Champions League playoff first leg, where they meet Shakhter Karagandy. The hosts are hoping to make history and become the first ever Kazakh team to qualify for the Champions League group stages, after back-to-back domestic league titles.

Shakhter, who play their home games in Kazakhstan’s capital, Astana, upset the odds and beat BATE Borisov -- the Belarusian team that felled eventual winners Bayern Munich last season -- to reach this stage. They rested their entire first team in their last league game in preparation for this match, meaning coach Viktor Kumykov should have a fit squad to choose from.

For Arsenal and Schalke 04, things are extremely precarious at the moment with both teams coming off horrendous league performances over the weekend.

Schalke will face PAOK Salonika instead of Metalist Kharkiv who were handed a European ban after defeating PAOK in the last round. After Schalke’s defense was carved up like a Thanksgiving turkey by Wolfsburg and striker Klaas-Jan Huntelaarr injured his knee, they might need all the help they can get.