体坛英语新闻：Valencia hang on to book Champions League group spot

MADRID, Aug. 25 (Xinhua) -- Spain will have five clubs in the group stage of the Champions League as Valencia joined Barcelona, Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid and Sevilla in the competition after defeating Monaco 4-3 on aggregate.

A 2-1 defeat on the night, coupled with a nerve shredding last quarter hour was enough to see Valencia progress into the lucrative group stage.

Valencia traveled to the south coast of France with a 3-1 lead from the first leg and added to that advantage after just four minutes when Alvaro Negredo produced a powerful finish to put them 1-0 up on the night.

As well as making it 4-1 on aggregate Valencia now had a vital away goal and Monaco now had to score three times merely to force extra time.

They pulled one back after 17 minutes when Andre Raggi took advantage of Matt Ryan's failure to punch out a dangerous cross, although there did look to be a foul in attack before he scored from outside of the area.

The goal didn't appear to affect Valencia, who continued to pose a threat in attack, although as the half progressed Monaco looked to carry the game more into their half.

Monaco continued looking for goal in the second half, but the best chances fell to Dani Parejo, who saw a free kick saved, and Paco Alcacer, who fired just wide.

With the clock ticking down the home side began to make changes and bring on more attacking players, but that saw Valencia taking an advantage in midfield, while the French side had to look for an epic finish.

That was on the cards with 15 minutes left when a free kick fooled everyone leaving Ryan to parry the ball out, only for it to fall to Elderson to score from close range.

That saw Monaco give everything in search of a goal which would take the game into extra time and as Valencia began to show nerves, the home side was able to whip several dangerous balls into the Valencia box, but with Valencia defending with everything the Spaniards held on to the end and the excessive six minutes injury time.