ZÜRICH, Switzerland — Last night, FK Ventspils could not produce the miracle that was needed of them to qualify for the UEFA Champions League, going down 2-1 to Zürich in the return leg of their qualifying fixture. The result saw Zürich progress to the lucrative Champions League with a 5-1 aggregate.

Things started badly for the Latvians when Johan Vonlanthen scored for the Swiss in the sixth minute. However, things were quickly back on even ground when Igor Ţîgîrlaş hit the equalizer two minutes later, with Ventspils’ first shot on goal. Both teams had their chances over the remainder of the first half, yet both failed to capitalize on these opportunities.

In the second half, Zürich completely dominated play with a number of strong opportunities going agonizingly close. It was the exact football that Zürich needed to play, attacking rather than sitting back and defending their lead. Much to the frustration of Ventspils, they were effectively shut out of the game, only managing one strong  second-half shot at goal in the 84th minute. After building pressure, Zürich sealed the game up with an injury time goal to Swiss international Almen Abdi in one of the last plays of the game.

Ventspils will now be left ruing a poor home leg last week which effectively killed off any realistic opportunity they had of qualifying for the Champions League. Their attention will now turn to holding off Liepājas Metalurgs in the race to see who will be crowned Latvian champions while also focusing on producing strong results in Europe’s second-tier competition, the UEFA Europa League.