As Celtic enter the draw for the 3rd Round of Qualifying for the UEFA Champions League, anticipation builds as bigger names enter the hat. Celtic will be eager to do the job in Glasgow versus Nomme Kalju on Wednesday before hopefully taking an aggregate lead to Estonia. But tomorrow’s draw can set up who awaits Celtic should they progress.
Matt Corr outlined Celtic’s eventful summer in the Champions League qualifiers and took us right through the long and winding road to the Group Stages and you can read that HERE.
The possible opponents include: PAOK, Qarabag, Maribor, Red Star Belgrade, Maccabi Tel Aviv/CFR Cluj and Valetta/Ferencvaros. With this news, the 11am Champions League draw becomes all the more interesting.
Thanks to Moravcik67’s twitter thread, we have a heads up about each opponent and their Domestic and European record.
1. Here’s a bit of info on some of the teams we might be drawn against in tomorrows CL QR3 draw.
The draw is at 11am, and will be followed by the EL QR3 draw for champions – i.e. the who we play if we’re gubbed by Nomme Kalju and drop into the EL.
— Moravcik67 (@Moravcik67_) July 21, 2019
However, there is one side that this thread highlights as being particularly difficult for Neil Lennon’s Celtic side and that is PAOK, the champions of Greece.
Last year, Razvan Lucescu’s PAOK stormed to the title completing an ‘Invincible’ season winning 26 games and drawing four. It was testament to their staggering season that the team that humbled Celtic in the Champions League last year, AEK Athens, finished 23 points shy of their 80 point tally. Along with the SuperLeague, PAOK took home the Greek Cup for the second year running.
This season, however, Lucescu has left for pastures new and Abel Ferreira – the ex-Braga manager, has been hired. From taking the job on the 1st of July, the new season in Greece doesn’t start until 25 August.
That said, we faced similar circumstances last season and yet were defeated in Greece, all in all it is probably best that we are kept away from the Greeks in the draw.
Elsewhere in the draw, Celtic could face a return to 2015 opponents at the same stage, FC Qarabag – whom we beat 1-0 on aggregate thanks to Dedryck Boyata’s goal and Virgil Van Dijk’s calming influence in the away leg.
The brutal nature of travel is a worry with regards to that fixture, despite it being within Celtic’s grasps. With six Azerbaijani titles in a row, they are currently basking in a purple patch and should hope this continues.
Lewis F
Also on The Celtic Star…
Boyata’s Back, CL Laughs on Arsenal, Mowbray’s Chin Taking and Lustig’s Luck
