By DPA
Hamburg : Four-time European champions Ajax Amsterdam again failed to qualify for the UEFA Champions League but big guns Arsenal and Valencia advanced and Germany’s Werder Bremen reached the group stage for a fourth successive season.
Ajax crashed to a 2-1 defeat at Slavia Prague Wednesday night to go out 3-1 on aggregate in the third qualifying round.
The Dutch giants, 1995 Champions League winners, went out at the same stage last season to FC Copenhagen.
Stanislav Vlcek scored both goals for Slavia, in the 22nd and 86th minutes, while Luiz Suarez had given the visitors hope with a 33rd-minute equaliser.
Bremen goes into the draw for the 32-team group stage Thursday following a hard-fought 3-2 victory at Dynamo Zagreb, with Brazilian midfielder Diego scoring a brace of penalties.
It was a tough scrap for the Bundesliga side, who had edged the first leg 2-1, against a Zagreb side that twice came from behind.
Diego sent Georg Koch in goal the wrong way with his first penalty in the 13th minute after Hugo Almeida’s shirt was tugged, and belted in his second and Bremen’s third in the 70th after he himself had been felled in the area.
Boubacar Sanogo struck from close range for Bremen’s second in the 38th but Zagreb were always dangerous and drew level thanks to a deflected 20-metre shot from Ognjen Vukojevic and a Luka Modric penalty in the 41st.
Arsenal made sure of qualification with a 3-0 home win over Sparta Prague to follow up its 2-0 victory over the Czech side two weeks ago.
Tomas Rosicky scored in the seventh minute against his old club, Cesc Fabregas in the 82nd and Eduardo in the 89th settled the affair to give England four teams in the group stage again.
Liverpool Tuesday joined seeded Premiership champions Manchester United and Chelsea.
Goals from Ivan Helguera in the fifth minute and David Villa shortly before full-time were enough to give Valencia a 2-1 win against Swedish outfit Elfsborg who scored in the 33rd through Daniel Alexandersson. The Spanish side had gone to Sweden with a comfortable 3-0 advantage from the first leg.
Spain could also have a fourth representative if Sevilla overcome AEK Athens in Greece Monday. The game was postponed after the death of Sevilla defender Antonio Puerta Tuesday following a heart attack.
Sevilla hold a 2-0 lead from the first leg.
Portuguese giants Benfica booked their place with a first-half goal from Greek Konstaninos Katsouranis earning a 1-0 win at FC Copenhagen for a 3-1 aggregate.
Turkish side Besiktas advanced thanks to two second-half goals in eight minutes from Argentinian Matias Delgado for a 2-0 win and 3-1 aggregate over FC Zurich.
Istanbul rivals Fenerbahce meanwhile came away from Anderlecht with a 2-0 win for a 3-0 aggregate triumph, Mateka Kezman netting in the third minute and Alex notching the second in the 73rd.
Ukraine also has two representatives in the group stage after Dynamo Kiev and Shakhtar Donetsk enjoyed home victories.
Shakhtar, trailing 1-0 to Red Bull Salzburg after the first leg, came from a goal behind to beat the Austrians 3-1 with a late goal from Brazilian striker Brandao.
Ukrainian champions Dynamo Kiev meanwhile overcame FK Sarajevo 3-0 for a 4-0 aggregate victory.
Steaua Bucharest were 2-0 winners over Belarus visitors BATE Borisov to advance on a 4-2 aggregate.