They had to survive an almighty scare but in the end FK Austria Wien created a small piece of history as Roman Kienast scored a minute after entering the fray to secure a first ever UEFA Champions League group stage appearance for his side despite defeat on the night against GNK Dinamo Zagreb.
When Florian Mader opened the scoring after five minutes few could have foreseen the drama to follow, but goals from Marcelo Brozović, Junior Fernándes and Fatos Bećiraj appeared to have secured progress for Dinamo. However, substitute Kienast got the crucial goal for the hosts eight minutes from time, meaning their one-goal defeat was not enough to spoil their 2-0 first-leg triumph.
Mader provided a dream start for the home team, whipping an early free-kick into back of Grzegorz Sandomierski's net. Dinamo had won their previous four away qualifiers and showed why as they fought back strongly. Heinz Lindner did well to stop a dangerous effort from Sammir following a corner, but could do nothing on 33 minutes as Brozović shook off the attentions of Manuel Ortlechner before smashing the ball in from range. Dinamo continued to have the upper hand, and Fernándes added a second from the edge of the area with a curving shot just before the break.
Philipp Hosiner went close to converting Markus Suttner's cross midway through the second half, but the hosts were punished on the counterattack shortly after. Bećiraj turned Ivo Pinto's ball into the home net on 70 minutes to shock the home side and leave Dinamo, who had replaced coach Krunoslav Jurčić with Damir Krznar after the first leg, on the brink of qualification.
The hosts refused to go quietly though, and Nenad Bjelica threw on Kienast with time running out. A minute after his introduction the forward was on hand to turn in from close range after Hosiner had headed a bouncing ball back across goal, sending the home crowd delirious and securing a 4-3 aggregate triumph.