-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Spanish Primera Liga side Atletico Madrid have got one foot in the Champions League group stage after claiming a crucial 3-2 success at Greek side Panathinaikos in a tough qualifying round first leg encounter on Wednesday . Maxi Rodriguez celebrates scoring the opening goal in Atletico Madrid 's 3-2 win in Greece . The visitors took a 1-0 lead in the 36th minute when Diego Forlan set up Maxi Rodriguez who took the ball around Panathinaikos goalkeeper Mario Galinovic to score . Panathinaikos levelled in the 47th minute when Dimitris Salpingidis , who had an earlier goal disallowed , flicked the ball over Atletico keeper Sergio Asenjo . However , Forlan restored the Spaniards ' lead in the 63rd minute when he followed-up Rodriguez 's blistering drive which had come back off the post . In-demand Argentine striker Sergio Aguero made it 3-1 in the 70th minute but Panathinaikos substitute Sebastian Leto closed the gap four minutes later to give the Greek side some hope . In the night 's other matches , French side Lyon stormed closer to a 10th successive group stage appearance with a tumping 5-1 victory over Anderlecht . The Ligue 1 outfit had the match sewn up before half-time with Miralem Pjanic , a Lisandro Lopez penalty , Michel Bastos and Bafetimbi Gomis giving them a four-goal cushion . Anderlecht , beaten in Champions League qualifying for the last two seasons , pulled one back through Matias Suarez in the 58th minute , but Claude Puel 's Lyon side restored their four-goal advantage inside five minutes with Gomis grabbing his second of the night . Swiss side FC Zurich took a giant step closer to playing in the competition for the first time in 28 years by claiming a 3-0 lead at Latvian side Ventspils . Goals from Johan Vonlathen , Sylvan Aegerter and Dusan Djuriuc look almost certain to put Zurich into the last 32 of the competition . Debrecen edged closer to becoming Hungary 's first Champions League group stage participants since 1996 when they claimed a 2-1 advantage at Levski Sofia in Bulgaria . Laszlo Bodnar gave the Hungarians the lead but Levski levelled at the start of the second period with a fine strike from Cedric Bardon . However , 14 minutes from time , Peter Czvitkovics claimed Debrecen 's winner . Israeli champions Maccabi Haifa were also winners on the road with a goal six minutes from time from substitute Shlomi Arbeitman earning a 2-1 win at Salzburg . Georgian striker Vladimer Dvalishvili headed Haifa in front before Alexander Zickler equalized on 57 minutes for the Austrians .