Bafana Bafana winger Mihlali Mayambela will play in this season’s UEFA Europa League after his side Aris Limassol thrashed Slovan Bratislava 6-2, with Mayambela scoring once.
Mayambela, 27, had scored his side’s late goal in the 2-1 first-leg defeat and was also on the scoresheet in the second leg.
But by the time Mayambela got in on the action the tie was all but decided thanks to a hat-trick by Yannick Gomis and a goal by Julius Szoke, while David Strelec was on the scoresheet for the visitors.
Mayambela made it 5-1 after 66 minutes, and Morgan Brown even made it 6-1, before the visitors scored a late second goal but it was a mere consolation.
Overall, Aris progressed 7-4 on aggregate, and will be part of Friday’s UEFA Europa League draw.
They could now be paired with some of the seeded teams, including Liverpool, West Ham United, AS Roma, or Bayer Leverkusen.
Aris were initially in the UEFA Champions League qualification but were eliminated by Rakow Czestochowa, losing 3-1 on aggregate.
