While UEFA has done its upmost to make the Champions League a closed shop for only a few countries, all the rest of us really get underway today. The same stand out teams as usual at this stage - Celtic; APOEL, Hapoel Be’er Sheva, Legia Warsaw, Ludogorets etc. Wiki page here Celtic have a fun journey to a baking hot Yerevan for Alashkert. Should be a regulation win.
7 out of 8 away clubs are favored today. Shkendija of FYR Macedonia is the only home favorite, and they host The New Saints of Wales.
They smashed in five goals. One guy got four goals. Celtic got through no problem. Played a fairly solid team so hopefully give a few young lads a run out for the home game.
In the 24th minute, Suduva Marijampole of Lithuania leads 3-0 hosting APOEL Nicosia of Cyprus. You can watch at https://live.bleacherreport.com/soccer/soccer-tournaments/events/apoel-fk-suduva/45471 Lithuania had their champion start and be eliminated in Qualifying Round 2 the last five seasons. The last four seasons it was Zalgiris Vilnius. The last Lithuanian club to advance was Ekranas in 2012-2013. After a scoreless draw and 2-1 win over Shamrock Rovers of Ireland, Ekranas lost to Anderlecht 5-0 and 6-0. In the nine seasons with the current qualifying format, Lithuanian champions have advanced only two rounds, which were Ekranas one round each in 2011-2012 and 2012-2013. In the only game today that's over, Astana of Kazakhstan won 1-0 hosting Sutjeska Niksic of Montenegro, but Sutjeska Niksic should be happy with that. https://live.bleacherreport.com/soccer/soccer-tournaments/events/celtic-fc-alashkert/45465 has a replay of Celtic's game. You need to log in to watch more than 5 minutes from Bleacher Report, but it's free.
APOEL 3 down within 20 minutes away to Sūduva of Lithuania. A guy called Rigino Cicilia has a hat-trick. Big upset there.
APOEL scored in the 90+4th minute to lose 3-1 and make it where they would advance with a 2-0 win. Two unseeded clubs won by 1 at home. Torpedo Kutaisi of Georgia won 2-1 over Sheriff Tiraspol of Moldova and Valur of Iceland won 1-0 over Rosenborg of Norway.
But they couldn’t do it. Only won 1 - 0 so Sūduva go through in their first ever Champions League qualifying round. They’ll probably get to play Crvena Zvezda in the next round. The New Saints almost pulled off the great escape against Shkëndija with a 4 - 0 home win. Sadly for them they lost 5 - 0 away. Dinamo Zagreb vs Hapoel Be’er Sheva looks like the stand out tie of the next round.
Crvena Zvezda won 2-0 to advance. This is the tenth season of Champions League qualifying having two paths, and The New Saints vs. Shkendija was the first qualifying aggregate where both clubs had a shutout win with at least 4 goals scored. I agree about the standout tie.
I just blogged at https://evanjsoccer.wordpress.com/2...mpions-league-qualifying-round-1-second-legs/ and guessed the odds for today's games.
Qarabag of Azerbaijan 0-0 NK Olimpija Ljubljana of Slovenia (Qarabag won aggregate 1-0) Sheriff Tiraspol of Moldova 3-0 Torpedro Kutaisi of Georgia (Sheriff Tiraspol won aggregate 4-2) Zrinjski Mostar of Bosnia-Herzegovian 1-1 Spartak Trnava of Slovakia (Spartak Trnava won aggregate 2-1) In progress: Rosenborg of Norway 1-0 Valur of Iceland (aggregate 1-1) Sutjeska Niksic of Montenegro 0-1 Astana of Kazakhstan (Astana leads aggregate 2-0) Celtic of Scotland 2-0 Alashkert of Armenia (Celtic leads aggregate 5-0) Celtic's Moussa Dembele scored in the 8th and 18th minutes. In between, Celtic got a straight red card in the 11th minute, but they have nothing to worry about.
Rosenborg of Norway 3-1 Valur of Iceland (Rosenborg won aggregate 3-2) Sutjeska Niksic of Montenegro 0-2 Astana of Kazakhstan (Astana won aggregate 3-0) Celtic of Scotland 3-0 Alashkert of Armenia (Celtic won aggregate 6-0) Nicklas Bendtner scored 2 of Rosenborg's goals, which were both penalty kicks. The last goal was in the 90+4th minute, and it decided the aggregate because a 2-1 win by Rosenborg would have advanced Valur on away goals. Here are the 12 series in Qualifying Round 2, with the last two for non-champions: Astana of Kazakhstan vs. Midtjylland of Denmark Ludogorets Razgrad of Bulgaria vs. Bidi of Hungary Kukesi of Albania vs. Qarabag of Azerbaijan CFR Cluj of Romania vs. Malmo FF of Sweden Dinamo Zagreb of Croatia vs. Hapoel Be'er Sheva of Israel Red Star Belgrade (Crvena Zvezda) of Serbia vs. Suduva Marijampole of Lithuania BATE Borisov of Belarus vs. HJK Helsinki of Finland Shkendija of FYR Macedonia vs. Sheriff Tiraspol of Moldova Legia Warsaw of Poland vs. Spartak Trnava of Slovakia Celtic of Scotland vs. Rosenborg of Norway PAOK of Greece vs. Basel of Switzerland Ajax of Netherlands vs. Sturm Graz of Austria The club listed first hosts the first leg.
My word. Atrocious tackle from one of the Champions League qualifiers yesterday.It takes a unique kind of person to dish out a two footed fly kick to the chest, then make a face like: "Hmm red card? Come on ref. Ok fair enough" pic.twitter.com/rhNA9eppnt— Ball Street (@BallStreet) July 18, 2018 A Dudelange player just going all in
Benfica vs Fenerbache Celtic/Rosenborg vs AEK Athens Some games they could be. PAOK vs Basel could be mental off the pitch. We could also get Legia Warsaw vs Crvena Zvezda too, fight fight fight.
I forgot about the draw yesterday. As a fan of Israeli clubs, Hapoel Be'er Sheva got a good draw (if they advance) to host the second leg against Astana or Midtjylland. Astana is way east and a long trip for clubs from England or Spain, but Israel is east also. Here's the Qualifying Round 3 draw from Wikipedia: Champions Path Winner of Match 10 vs. AEK Athens Red Bull Salzburg vs. Winner of Match 8 Winner of Match 6 vs. Winner of Match 9 Winner of Match 3 vs. Winner of Match 7 Winner of Match 1 vs. Winner of Match 5 Winner of Match 4 vs. Winner of Match 2 League Path Standard Liège vs. Winner of Match 2 Benfica vs. Fenerbahçe Slavia Prague vs. Dynamo Kyiv Winner of Match 1 vs. Spartak Moscow
I just guessed the odds at https://evanjsoccer.wordpress.com/2...mpions-league-qualifying-round-2-second-legs/
I guessed the odds at https://evanjsoccer.wordpress.com/2...fa-champions-league-playoff-round-first-legs/ and I guessed well for five out of six games. I was way off for BATE Borisov vs. PSV Eindhoven.