Champions League Review: Mixed results for Europe's big guns

Arsenal and Bayer Leverkusen both progressed to the group stages of the competition but Napoli were dumped into the Europa League by Spanish side Athletic Bilbao

There were mixed fortunes for Europe's big guns in the Champions League play-offs on Wednesday evening.

Ten-man Arsenal reached the competition proper for the 17th successive season as the Premier League side defeated Besiktas 1-0 at the Emirates Stadium to progress by the same score on aggregate.

Alexis Sanchez struck for the Gunners to send them through, despite Mathieu Debuchy's second half sending off.

At the Stadion Vasil Levski, defender Cosmin Moti was the name on the lips of Ludogorets supporters as they defeated Steaua Bucharest 6-5 in a penalty shootout.

The Bulgarians forced spot-kicks by winning 1-0 on the night, but were up against it when goalkeeper Vladislav Stoyanov was sent off in the 119th minute for a second bookable offence.

Moti took the gloves and, after scoring Ludogorets' first penalty, saved two spot-kicks to send his side through.

Joining them in the group-stage draw are Bundesliga outfit Bayer Leverkusen, who coasted past Copenhagen 4-0 at the Bay Arena to secure a 7-2 aggregate victory.

Leverkusen had effectively the put the tie to bed within the opening seven minutes as first Son Heung-min applied a cool finish from close range before Hakan Calhanoglu's free-kick deflected home via the arm of Danny Amankwaa.

Amankwaa's evening went from bad to worse when he conceded a penalty for a foul on Tin Jedvaj on the half-hour mark and Stefan Kiessling confidently dispatched the spot-kick. The in-form forward then scored his second of the game in the 66th minute.

However, Napoli's participation in the competition came to an abrupt end as they were beaten 4-2 over two legs by Athletic Bilbao after losing 3-1 to the Liga outfit on the night.

Napoli were aiming for a third straight appearance in the group stages and appeared well on course when Marek Hamsik opened the scoring just after half-time by drilling home a left-foot shot that hit the upright before nestling in the goal.

Athletic roared back, though, and Aritz Aduriz scored twice in seven second-half minutes to swing the tie in the Liga side's favour.

Ibai Gomez then capitalised on confusion in the Napoli box to make it 3-1 in the 74th minute and sent Athletic to the group stages for the first time since the 1998-99 campaign.

Elsewhere, Malmo overturned a 2-1 deficit from the first leg by beating Salzburg 3-0 at the Swedbank Stadion.