UEFA Champions League 2018-2019 qualifiers

So we could be talking Rosenborg - AEK - Legia. That's a * Europa League group, not a * qualifying path

 

Some good practice at least

 

I bet on their League sometimes and have watched them a few times, their League has always looked quite poor to me, I see them as like a * version of Dinamo Zagreb similar open attacking style but with players half as good. Think we'd coast through against a poorly disciplined open team like them.

They have a quite easy route to the play-offs so a decent chance we could meet them. If they get through Suduva then they'll have Legia or Spartak Trnava not the most difficult of games.

 

I've seen a few of their games last season, on a resurgence, they probably edge it solely because of the question marks around our defense

 

Like a euro tournament within a tournament

 

Is it not this year if we beat rosencheeseburger that were guaranteed Europa as it's a round earlier we get put through? Sure that's what I read.

 

No. We are guaranteed to enter the next round of the Europa League if we drop out of any Champions League qualifying round - so if AEK Athens were to knock us out in the Champions League Third Qualifying Round, we would enter the Europa League Play-off Round.

 

We lose we play in EL 3rd round.
We beat them then we are guaranteed at a minimum play offs in Europa.
If we beat Rosenborg then AEK then we are guaranteed Europa Group Stage same as if we get out at CL play offs then it will be EL GS

 

I'd tend to agree usually but I think the way the draw has unfolded and AEK being a tough test, Rodgers will be asking Lawell to speed 1 or 2 signings up. We can't continue to gamble with these qualifiers - 'got to speculate to accumulate sometimes!'

 

Real Tough one this! Mental how intense out season is when we should really be playing friendlies...
I can see us coming through this, however I have to emulate everyone else's concerns with our defence, New RB and quality CB and are team would be rapid...

 

Hello to all Celtic fans from Athens! The sense that we had a bad draw is common to both sides, maybe more to AEK as we still play friendly games and some of major attack players have left this season (Araujo & Christodoulopoulos) so consistency in front is still in question as our basic signings for these positions are here less than a week (Argendinians Boye & Ponce). Moreover AEK strenght is in defence & midfielders based on a very solid basis with very talented and hard players that most of them are members of the greek national team (we count so far 5 players in NT). That was the main reason for our very good games against bigger clubs such as Milan, Club Bruge and Dinamo Kiev. AEK left the europa league unbeaten and we were far more beter than dynamo in both games but really very unlucky. Imagine AEK like a micrography of Greece in euro 2004, very solid in defence, wait for the opponent but really dangerous in attack.

some highlights from last years european games


Our best players are attacking midfielders Petros Mandalos (c) and croatian Marco Livaja (ex Inter and Las Palmas player)

Second leg in Athens in 14/8 will be probably in a very hot weather(40 degrees) and atmosphere. Our attendance in european games last year was about 30-35.000, Sold Out with AC Milan with 60.000 fans


Something that must be taken into consideration the tradion we have against scotish teams as AEK has won all the legs so far (vs Rangers in 1994 home win 2-0, away win 0-1, vs Hibernians in 2001 home win 2-0, away defeat 3-2, vs Hearts in 2006, away win 1-2, home win 3-0, vs Dundee Utd in 2010 away win 0-1, home draw 1-1)

I bielieve that Celtic is a great club and will pass from Rozenborg and we will have 2 very strong games. If this happens then you have to expect a lot of AEK fans in your court as tehre are plenty of students in UK in addition to our supporters club in London and many other central european countries. Celtic may have the support from panathinaikos fans in Athens as a big part of them support your team due to same colours and almost same badge!

 

I don’t think I’ve ever been so confident going into these qualifiers. Doesn’t mean I’m arrogant or expect us to thrash them, just means right now I think our team is cruising, although playoffs might be tricky.

Do we increase coefficient with qualifier wins?

 

welcome . how has the pre-season been for AEK?

 

Thanks for your welcome , very poor so far, 3 friendly games with poor attacking game, but most of games without new signings. So hopefully we will be better with a more complete squad.

Although Henrick Larsson was my favourite, Celtic always reminds me of greek striker George Samaras who was brilliant at his time there, his father was working up to last year in AEK youth club.

 

Ffs, I thought AEK would be the last game, but another, ffs.

Think these possible 2 rounds could go either way.

Surprised that the Greek champs have to do this too, had to look up as thought it was a mistake when I read they were champions.

 

''Everyone knows this'' is not an argument.

I'm fully aware of AEK's left-wing connections. Having said that, when was the last time that Original-21 (the AEK ultras) criticized Melissanidis (business tycoon, the AEK owner) regarding his highly unethical (to say the least) business ventures? You said it yourself in your previous post: they 've given him the nickname 'Tiger' and basically they worship him like a *. Why? Cause he is spending big money for the club. At the same time, the ultras are quick to criticize Marinakis-Savvidis-Alafouzos etc. (the owners of Olympiakos, PAOK, Panathinaikos respectively). The truth of the matter is that Melissanidis isn't really any different.

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Yep, in Greek football it's everything about who owns each club. Basically, every big club is owned by an oligarch/media tycoon who uses the club to promote his personal political/economical agenda. Long story short, it's a joke of a league.

Here is Savvidis (a Russian oligarch of Greek descent, the owner of PAOK) invading the pitch carrying a gun(!), because the ref disallowed a PAOK goal. The incident occurred in March 2018 during a game vs. AEK.



You can't make this stuff up!

 

worst possible draw at that stage

AEK are an absolute wall and will be ridiculously hard to break down

 

Don't know anything about them bar they are Greek. Still to win the competition you have to beat * like this before we gub the big boys. Bring it effin on!!!!!!!!

 

I'm assuming your supporters club is in North London, but whereabouts?