Prague a nightmare??So after the first legs in the Champions Lge and Europa Lge Play-Offs here is a potential line up and breakdown for who is which pot. (For the drawn games I've given the higher ranked team the benefit of coming out on top after the 2nd leg and taking their rightful place in either the Champs Lge [meaning the loser gets the Europa Lge spot] or Europa Lge qualification). We come out as originally predicted into Pot 3 "seeded" 20 avoiding trips to Azerbaijan, Slovakia, Norway, Moldova (probably), Belgium and Israel. Thankfully, wouldn't leave too many options for long trips to Eastern Europe from teams in the other pots, so some potential 'nice' West/Central Europe games? Although nightmare scenario could be Pot 1 - Dinamo Zagreb, Pot 2 - Slavia Prague and Pot 4 - TSC Backa Topola.
I've never been more interested and keenly watching European football on a Thursday night as has been the case for the past few weeks. Roll on next week when we will know for sure where our passports might take us.
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Same boat as you, or train, or plane, or car.
Coefficient boringSo after the first legs in the Champions Lge and Europa Lge Play-Offs here is a potential line up and breakdown for who is which pot. (For the drawn games I've given the higher ranked team the benefit of coming out on top after the 2nd leg and taking their rightful place in either the Champs Lge [meaning the loser gets the Europa Lge spot] or Europa Lge qualification). We come out as originally predicted into Pot 3 "seeded" 20 avoiding trips to Azerbaijan, Slovakia, Norway, Moldova (probably), Belgium and Israel. Thankfully, wouldn't leave too many options for long trips to Eastern Europe from teams in the other pots, so some potential 'nice' West/Central Europe games? Although nightmare scenario could be Pot 1 - Dinamo Zagreb, Pot 2 - Slavia Prague and Pot 4 - TSC Backa Topola
I've never been more interested and keenly watching European football on a Thursday night as has been the case for the past few weeks. Roll on next week when we will know for sure where our passports might take us
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The first legs of the Europa League play-offs have been completed.
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A few teams may have already confirmed their place in the Europa League group stage:
However, there are some matches in the balance:
- Ajax (Netherlands) won 4-1 away at Ludogorets Razgrad (Bulgaria), with a hat-trick from someone called "Kudus"
- Olympiacos (Greece) and Dinamo Zagreb (Croatia) won their home ties 3-1 against Cukaricki (Serbia) and Sparta Prague (Czech Republic) respectively.
- Whilst Qarabag (Azerbaijan), Slavia Prague (Czechia) and a familiar Union Saint-Gilloise (Belgium) all won 2-0 in their first legs.
This time, next week, we will know all 32 qualifiers for this season's Europa League group stage - if all goes to plan
- Klaksvik may have drew 1-1 at home to Sheriff Tiraspol (Moldova) but that trip to the Faroe Islands is still on.
- Aberdeen (Scotland) got a great 2-2 draw away at BK Hacken (Sweden), hopefully setting up an entertaining match at Pittodrie Stadium.
- And finally, both LASK (Austria) and Slovan Bratislava (Slovakia) won 2-1 at home against Zrinjski Mostar (Bosnia & Herzegovina) and Aris Limassol (Cyprus) respectively.
So as the excitement builds, who would you like Brighton to face against? I would like Amsterdam or Athens
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EDIT: Here are the projected pots for those interested...
How do you know it’s a dull night out? Surely it’s what you make of it? I’ve had better nights out on football trips in Europe in Bielefeld, Leuven and Arnhem than I have in Barcelona & Munich!
The ultras at Roma and AEK would be licking their lips at that one
With villa I guess most would stay in Valencia. But yes Zagreb would be a good one still.
Does anyone know how long it normally takes before the actual dates of the fixtures are announced?
Oh for crying out loud…
Oh LARD E dah!
The prospect of going to France/Germany/Italy for a competitive game is almost unreal.
www.uefa.com
Why would LASK be dull? I'd quite like that one: visiting the home city of Kepler, Wittgenstein and Bruckner (let's just gloss over the Hitler connection) would be interesting. And it's on the Danube, which is always a plus in my book. It's a place rich in Austrian history too (I think it may have been the capital at one point). I've just checked what's on and Mutter Courage und ihre Kinder is playing in the first week of games and Der Freischutz is on later.
