Red Bull Salzburg will start in Champions League Qualifying Round 3 Champions Route and be seeded. Rapid Wien will start in the Champions League Qualifying Round 3 League Route and be the lowest seeded team. The draw for that round will be Friday 17 July. Wolfsburger AC will start in the Europa League Qualifying Round 2. The draw for that round will be 22 June. SK Sturm Graz and SCR Altach will start in the Europa League League Qualifying Round 3. The draw for that round will be Friday 17 July.
Wolfsburger AC will host the second leg against Glenavon of Northern Ireland or Shakhtyor Soligorsk of Belarus.
Champions League 3QR Matchups (29 July; 4,5 August): FC Salzburg (AUT) v Malmö FF (SWE) SK Rapid Wien (AUT) v AFC Ajax (NED) Eurpoa League 3QR Matchups (30 July; 6 August): FC Shakhtyor Soligorsk (BLR)/Wolfsberger AC (AUT) v Borussia Dortmund (GER) SK Sturm Graz (AUT) v FC Rubin Kazan (RUS) SCR Altach (AUT) v Vitória SC (POR)
This Week's 3QR matches Champions League FC Salzburg 2-0 Malmö FF (SWE) SK Rapid Wien 2-2 AFC Ajax (NED) Europa League: Wolfsberger AC 0-1 Borussia Dortmund (GER) SK Sturm Graz 2-3 FC Rubin Kazan (RUS) SCR Altach 2-1 Vitória SC (POR)
Champions League Ajax Amsterdam 2-3 Rapid Wien Rapid pulls off the away win necessary to advance over Ajax!
Malmo FF led 3:0 at halftime and won 3:0 to beat Salzburg 3:2 on aggregate. Malmo FF got a red card in the 64th minute but Salzburg could not take advantage.
Europa League: Borussia Dortmund 5 - 0 Wolfsberger AC [6 - 0] Rubin Kazan 1 - 1 Sturm Graz [4 - 3] Vitória 1 - 4 Altach [2 - 6] Dortmund got the blowout of the day, easily dispatching with Wolfsberger AC. The Austrians got a very tough draw but can take some solace from advancing over a team from Belarus in the second qualifying round. Having lost 2-3 at home, Sturm Graz really needed to win by two goals in Russia--a tall order to be sure. After scoring the first and pushing for the second, Rubin Kazan got an equalizer in the 85th minute to secure advancement. Altach is the only Austrian team advancing. After a 2-1 home win, they scored the first three goals in the return leg to put it away.
Today's Draw - Playoff matches Champions League (August 19,25) SK Rapid Wien - Shakhtar Donetsk (UKR) Europa League: (August 20,27) Dinamo Minsk (BLR) - FC Salzburg SCR Altach - Belenenses (POR)
Interesting that the two remaining Europa League teams are currently bottom of the Bundesliga. Salzburg and Altach don't have a single point.
Champions League Rapid Wien 0 - 1 Shakhtar Donetsk (UKR) Now Rapid has to win in Ukraine. A very difficult task...
A valiant effort by Rapid - a 2-2 draw after leading 1-2 in the first half! Shakhtar advance after surviving Rapid storm http://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/season=2016/matches/round=2000633/match=2015658/index.html
Both Austrian teams exited the Europa League as well today... Dinamo Minsk beat Red Bull Salzburg at home by a score of 2-0, but the score was reversed in the return leg, and after a scoreless extra time, it went to PKs. Red Bull had the upper hand after two rounds but missed the final three penalties to lose 3-2. Tough way to go out. Altach lost the home match to Belenenses 0-1. The return leg in Portugal ended scoreless, as Altach couldn't get the goal to force extra time.
GROUP E Seed 1 Villareal 2 Plzeň 3 Rapid 4 Dinamo Minsk - who knocked Salzburg out of the Competition GROUP E Schedule MD 17 Sep. - 19.00 1 Rapid Villareal 1 Plzeň Dinamo MD 1 Oct. -21.05 2 Dinamo Rapid 2 Villareal Plzeň MD 22 Oct. - 21.05 3 Rapid Plzeň 3 Villareal Dinamo MD 5 Nov. - 19.00 4 Plzeň Rapid 4 Dinamo Villareal MD 26 Nov. - 21.05/? 5 Villareal Rapid 5 Dinamo Plzeň MD 10 Dec. 19.00 6 Rapid Dinamo 6 Plzeň Villareal Villareal will be the favorite. The other three should be in a battle for the second spot.
More wonderful results! Dinamo 0-1 RAPID Villareal 1-0 Plzeň GROUP E RAPID 2 0 +2 6 Plzeň 1 1 +1 3 Villareal 1 1 0 3 Dinamo 0 2 -3 0
Rapid Wien 3-2 Viktoria Plzen Villareal 4-0 Dinamo Minsk Rapid continues to lead the group with a perfect record. Meanwhile, Dinamo Minsk still hasn't earned a point--and in fact, still hasn't scored a goal. Salzburg can't be happy bowing out of the competition courtesy of that club...
Rapid Wien down Plzeň to book last-32 place! http://www.uefa.com/uefaeuropaleague/season=2016/matches/round=2000658/match=2017004/index.html Plzeň 1-2 RAPID Holenda 71 Schobesberger 13, 77 Dinamo Minsk 1-2 Villareal GROUP E RAPID 4 0 0 +4 12 Villareal 3 0 1 +5 9 Plzeň 1 0 3 -1 3 Dinamo 0 0 4 -8 0
Villarreal pulled ahead of Rapid with a 1-0 home win against the Austrians. But after they could only draw on the final day, Rapid retook the top spot to win the group. Dinamo Minsk 1 - 0 Viktoria Plzen Villarreal 1 - 0 Rapid Wien Rapid Wien 2 - 1 Dinamo Minsk Viktoria Plzen 3 - 3 Villarreal Rapid Wien 5 0 1 +4 15 Villarreal 4 1 1 +6 13 Viktoria Plzen 1 1 4 -2 4 Dinamo Minsk 1 0 5 -8 3 Now on to the final 32 where the 24 Europa Cup top-two finishers are joined by the 8 Champions League third-place finishers.
I was at the game tonight. Cold but exciting! This is Rapid's best performance in Europe in 20 years.