Jose Mourinho is now one round away from taking Fenerbahce back into the Champions League for the first time in 17 years.
The storied coach's team surged into the Champions League qualifying playoffs by overturning a two-goal deficit on aggregate Tuesday with a 5-2 win against Feyenoord coached by Robin van Persie.
Fenerbahce advanced 6-4 on aggregate score and next faces Benfica — where Mourinho got his first head coach job 25 years ago — with a place in the 36-team league phase at stake.
The first leg is in Istanbul on Wednesday next week with the return on Aug. 27 at the Stadium of Light in Lisbon where future two-time Champions League winner Mourinho lasted less than three months in 2000.
Benfica advanced Tuesday after beating Nice 2-0 at home after winning the first leg by the same score in France last week.
Fenerbahce last played in the old group stage of the Champions League in the 2008-09 season and its biggest rival, Galatasaray, already is in the Aug. 28 main draw as the Turkish league champion.
Fenerbahce had lost 2-1 in the Netherlands last week and fell further behind in the second leg of the third qualifying round clash when Feyenoord defender Tsuyoshi Watanabe scored the opener in the 41st minute.
Mourinho saw his players rally quickly with two goals before halftime — the second by Colombia forward Jhon Durán, on a season-long loan from Saudi club Al Nassr. Former Manchester United midfielder Fred padded the lead early in the second half and the scoring was completed by Talisca, another teammate last season of Cristiano Ronaldo at Al Nassr.
Rangers advanced to the playoffs 4-2 on aggregate against Viktoria Plzen despite a 2-1 loss Tuesday in the Czech Republic.
The Scottish club will host the first leg of its playoff next week against Club Brugge, which got three second-half goals in a 3-2 comeback win Tuesday over Salzburg to advance 4-2 on aggregate.
Salzburg was playing in the FIFA Club World Cup just six weeks ago but is unlikely to qualify for the next one in 2029, now missing out on Champions League play for the first time in seven seasons.
Russian-owned Pafos, the champion of Cyprus, beat Dynamo Kyiv of Ukraine 2-0 to advance 3-0 on aggregate. Pafos next faces Red Star Belgrade, the 1991 European Cup winner, which beat Lech Poznan 4-2 on aggregate after a 1-1 draw Tuesday in Serbia.
Copenhagen beat its near neighbor Malmo 5-0, one week after a scoreless draw on the other side of the Oresund Bridge that connects Denmark and Sweden. Copenhagen’s reward is a two-legged playoff against Swiss champion Basel.
Qarabag of Azerbaijan routed North Macedonian champion Shkendija 5-1 Tuesday, and 6-1 on aggregate, to earn a playoff against Ferencvaros, a 3-0 winner in Budapest against Ludogorets of Bulgaria.
Kazakhstan's Kairat Almaty won a penalty shootout at Slovan Bratislava, after the teams were tied 1-1 on aggregate, and next travels across four time zones to Scotland for the playoff first leg against Celtic.
