Zenit, Porto Into Champions League Group Stage

Zenit St. Petersburg have continued their strong start to the 2014-15 season with a commanding 3-0 home win over Belgian side Standard de Liege in the return leg of the third-round Champions League qualifier on Monday. Goals from Zenit's South American strikers Hulk and Salomon Rondon as well as a Hulk penalty ensured that the home side were not unduly affected by the loss of midfielder Viktor Fayzulin to a second yellow card just before half-time. Zenit had entered the match with a 1-0 aggregate lead. The club now joins Russian Premier League rivals CSKA Moscow in the group stages of this season's Champions League. New Zenit manager Andre Villas-Boas will be keen to return Zenit to the knockout phase of European football's gala event for the second consecutive year. Last season, Zenit lost a hard-fought round-of-16 tie to 2013 finalists Borussia Dortmund. Meanwhile, Porto beat Lille 2-0 through goals by Brahimi and Jackson Martinez in the second leg of the UEFA Champions League qualification in Porto. Porto advanced to the group stage of the Champions league, courtesy of a 3-0 aggregate. Despite a fairly lazy first half, Porto dominated the game from the start, with Jackson Martinez's effort in the 9th minute going wide. Algeria's Yacine Brahimi made it 1-0 in the 49th minute through a free kick into the top corner and 20 minutes later he swiftly passed the ball to Colombian striker Jackson Martinez who slotted it to the bottom corner to make it 2-0. The Portuguese giants beat Lille 1-0 last week in the opening leg of the play-off through Hector Herrera. Porto qualified for the group stages for the 19th time on Tuesday.