The Turkish Super Lig club progressed to the next round of the secondary European tournament despite their home defeat.

John Obi Mikel and Caleb Ekuban's Trabzonspor have advanced to the group stage of the 2019-20 Uefa Europa League despite a 2-0 loss to AEK Athens on Thursday.

Two first-half goals from the Greek visitors were not enough to secure the needed result at the Medical Park Stadium as Trabzonspor progressed into the group stage based on away goals after a 3-3 aggregate score.

Ghana's Ekuban scored a hat-trick for Unal Karaman's side last Thursday which gave them a 3-1 advantage at Athens.

Though their loss, the ex super eagles defender was highly praised for his outstanding midfield displays as he still proved the quality in him .

" Mikel has been wonderful and it's quite impressive to have a quality to strengthen our midfield. We lost the game but we qualified" said the coach.

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