European Football

BRATISLAVA, Aug 26 (Reuters) - Juventus eased through to the Champions League group stages after a 1-1 draw at Artmedia Bratislava on Tuesday completed a 5-1 aggregate victory.

Juve, out of Europe for two seasons following their involvement in an Italian match-fixing scandal, named a relatively strong team despite winning the third qualifying round first leg 4-0.

Claudio Ranieri's side went behind when Artmedia midfielder Branislav Fodrek netted with a stunning bicycle kick after 14 minutes but they were soon level as Amauri scored his first competitive goal for the club.

The Brazilian-born striker, a close-season signing from Palermo, hung in the air before powering home a header from Czech winger Pavel Nedved's cross on 25 minutes.

Amauri had earlier hit the post with a header and could easily have bagged a hat-trick.

Slovakian champions Artmedia, who reached the Champions League group stages in 2005, showed much more ambition than they did in the first leg but Juve's aggregate win was never in doubt.

Juve's last Champions League appearance was a quarter-final defeat by Arsenal two years ago after which they were stripped of their 2006 Italian title, banned from Europe and demoted to Serie B.

The twice European champions, who visit Fiorentina on Sunday in their Serie A opener, will be looking forward to Thursday's Champions League group stage draw after finishing third last term in their first season back in the Italian top flight.