Summary Ajax were strong favourites to progress to the play-off round, but they suffered a torturous night.
PARIS (AFP) - Four-time European champions Ajax have been eliminated at the third qualifying round stage of the Champions League after a humiliating 3-2 second-leg defeat to Rapid Vienna on Tuesday as Monaco advanced with a 4-0 win over Swiss side Young Boys.
After a 2-2 first-leg draw in the Austrian capital last week, Ajax were strong favourites to progress to the play-off round, but they suffered a torturous night at the Amsterdam Arena.
Frank de Boer s men let a two-goal lead slip at the Ersnt-Happel Stadion last week and the visitors -- seemingly buoyed by that comeback -- started where they left off last week.
Slovenian international Robert Beric -- the scorer of Rapid s equaliser in the first leg -- tormented Ajax again as he put the Austrian side in front after 12 minutes before Louis Schaub doubled their lead before half-time.
Ajax, who had reached the group stages in each of the last four seasons, hauled themselves back into the match and levelled the aggregate scores at 4-4 thanks to goals by Polish international Arkadiusz Milik and Serbian midfielder Nemanja Gudelj.
But just as the tie seemed set for extra time, Rapid Vienna -- who last reached the Champions League group stages in the 2005/06 season -- struck a decisive blow after 77 minutes via Schaub s second goal of the night.
Rapid progress to the play-off round after a 5-4 aggregate victory.
Monaco took control
Last season s quarter-finalists Monaco are into the play-off round after a thumping 4-0 second-leg win over Swiss side Young Boys.
The Ligue 1 side -- who reached the 2004 final where they were beaten by Portuguese giants Porto -- were already 3-1 up from last week s first leg in Bern and finished the job handsomely at the Stade Louis II thanks to a blistering second-half display.
"I liked our performance. We managed to put our game plan into practice - to contain the opposition at first, then counter-attack after we scored the first goal," said Monaco boss Leonardo Jardim.
"We took control of the game. The first half was very good from a strategic perspective. Our goal was to not concede before half-time and force our opponent to attack. That s exactly what happened."
Young Boys, who were semi-finalists of the European Cup back in 1958/59, retained some hope of getting back into the tie with the second leg goalless at half-time.
But Monaco -- third in Ligue 1 last season -- struck four times in 23 devastating second-half minutes to inflict a crushing 7-1 aggregate defeat on the Swiss capital club.
Ivan Cavaleiro -- a big-money summer arrival from Portuguese champions Benfica -- curled in a superb opener after 54 minutes before further goals from Layvin Kurzawa, Anthony Martial and another new signing Stephan El Shaarawy saw Monaco run riot.
Meanwhile, Croatian champions Dinamo Zagreb survived a thrilling comeback by Norwegian side Molde to progress on away goals after a 3-3 second-leg draw.
With the tie level after a 1-1 draw in Zagreb last week, the visitors looked to be out of sight after scoring three goals in the opening 22 minutes at the Molde Stadion.
The Norwegian champions -- who missed two penalties and had Vegard Forren sent off -- hit back with three second-half goals to leave Zagreb hanging on, but the hosts couldn t get the fourth goal that would have put them through at the visitors expense.
Cyriot champions APOEL remain on course for a second successive appearance in the group stages despite a 1-0 second-leg loss to Danish champions FC Midtjylland in scorching heat in Nicosia.
In temperatures of 35 degrees celsius, the Cypriots -- who played for an hour with ten men after Vinicius straight red card -- were beaten by Erik Sviatchenko s early goal but progressed on away goals after a 2-1 first-leg success last week.
