Uefa Champions League Ins and Outs: Which Ghanaian players failed to reach the play-off stages of Europe's most prestigious competition?

By El Akyereko Frimpong

Follow the writer on Twitter: @AkyerekOfficial

The Uefa Champions League has entered in the play-off stages with major upset for clubs and players who were hoping to play in the group stages. 

A number of Ghanaian players have exited the competition with their heads down as they clubs failed to progress following Tuesday and Wednesday games.

Popular among the fallen names is Michael Essien who will be playing no part in this season's competition as his Panathinaikos side fell to the sword of Belgian Pro League side Club Brugge. Essien was hoping for his club to qualify pending his return from injury but they succumbed to a 4-2 aggregate defeat.

Though defender Francis Dickoh was not involved in any of FC Midtjylland's games with Cypriot side APOEL Nicosia, he was obviously heartbroken as they exited following a 2-1 home defeat which qualified APOEL on a 2-2 away-goal advantage.

Former Hearts of Oak striker Samuel Afum was thrown into Young Boys Bern's campaign at AS Monaco on Tuesday night but he failed to score as the French giants consigned them to a heavy 4-0 thrashing and dumped them out of the competition on a 7-1 aggregate.

There was a brutal crossfire between striker Patrick Twumasi and Gideon Baah as they both scored against each other in a fight to secure a spot in the play-off draw schedule for Friday. But it was Twumasi's Astana who triumphed on a 4-3 victory. However the former Sogakope Red Bull forward will not play any of Astana's next two games in the competition after picking a red card in the game in which he scored.

Youngster David Atanga put his impressive midfield bravado on show in Sweden but his performance was not enough to help Red Bull Salzburg edge out Malmo FF as the Swedish Allsvenskan title-holders progressed on a 3-2 aggregate. Midfielder Enock Adu Kofi will also miss Malmo's next game after picking a red card in the game.

Sulley Muniru who have no further games to showcase his bullet firing left-foot abilities as his Steaua Bucuresti side lost 5-3 on aggregate to Serbian side Partizan Belgrade. The younger brother of former AC Milan midfielder Sulley Muntari scored a stunner against in Wednesday night's game.

Aziz Tetteh was also unused his Polish side Lech Poznan succumbed to a 4-1 aggregate loss to Swiss giants FC Basel.

List of Ghanaian players who have exited the competition following the recent round of games.

Sulley Muniru - Steaua Bucuresti (Romania)

David Atanga - Red Bull Salzburg (Austria)

Gideon Baah - HJK Helsinki (Finland)

Francis Dickoh - FC Midtjylland (Denmark)

Michael Essien -  Panathinaikos (Greece)

Players who have qualified for the play-offs

Patrick Twumasi - Astana FC (Kazakhstan)

Enock Adu Kofi -  Malma FF ( Sweden)