2016/17 UEFA Champions League Qualifiers

Should we fear anyone else apart from Legia?

 

As it stands Dinamo Zagreb, Dundalk and Ludogorets Razgrad are definitely teams we could face.

 

Just watched the goals from the Rosenborg game. A collapse of mentality in the defence.

 

Olympiakos only drew 0-0 at home, our best hope of avoiding those nutters from Legia

 

I'd like to avoid Zagreb for footballing reasons and Legia for non footballing reasons.

But am happy to play any of the others.

 

Olympiakos going out tomorrow night would be a truly amazing result for us.

It'd put Legia Warsaw (the best rated unseeded team) into the seeded side of the draw with Hapoel Be'er Sheva being unseeded who we could then draw.

 

No easy to go on but having watched Brondby against Hibs. I'd fancy our chances on Copenhagen. That was a second tier side, albeit one that could cope with top 6 no problem, against a formidable Danish, regular European side..

At our best, I'd say we should take that one..

Don't fancy Zagreb again, although still think we could get through that. Ludogorets probably are nothing like the side in the group's against Liverpool and Madrid..

 

Cmon Beer Sheva!

I think Olympiakos will score though meaning they will need 2..

 

An Israeli team? That would be fun.

 

Im a Derry city man- bohs had a great team for a good while i used to love kevin hunt. I saw dundalk at the brandywell earlier in the season- they won 5-0, if we get through and got them they would be no pushovers thats for sure.

 

Bit of background knowledge from Efe....




And Bitton..

 

Kevin Hunt...Legend.. Had is right, before it all went * up... Derry are having a good season..last night bit of a surprise in the LC..

Dundalk defo wouldnt be a push over but over two legs Id expect us to have enough...

 

For those of you in Ireland with teams like Derry, Dundalk, Cork; how is the standard of the Irish League? Cork beat out BK Hacken of Sweden in Europa League qualifiers, and obviously Dundalk have done the unthinkable in the CL. Have never seen any of the Airtricity League but clearly these teams aren't as poor as they've been made out to be. Just curious as to how these teams would stack up against SPL or Championship sides.

 

So here is a round up of yesterday's results

Qarabağ1-1 (agg 1-1) Viktoria Plzen
APOEL 3-0 (4-2) Rosenborg
Dinamo Tbilisi 0-1 (agg 0-3) Dinamo Zagreb
Red Star Belgrade 2-4 (add 4-6) Ludogorets
Dundalk 3-0(Agg 3-1) BATE

And these are the matches to be played tonight
Celtic vs Astana (1-1)
Hapoel Be'er Sheva vs Olympiakos (0-0)
Legia Warsaw vs Trencin (1-0)
Copenhagen vs Astra Giurgiu (1-1)
Salzburg vs Partizani (1-0)

Still a lot to play for in most of these matches, but I guess the draw this Friday will be as follows:

Seeded
-----------
Olympiakos
Viktoria Plzen
FC Salzburg
Celtic or Astana
APOEL

Unseeded
-----------
Legia Warsaw
Dinamo Zagreb
Ludogorets
Copenhagen
Dundalk

So no doubt every one here will want to draw Dundalk :icon_mrgreen:.

 

Obviously Dundalk would be the dream tie but I'd take on any of those sides. I think our best bet to go through would be Dundalk, Copenhagen or Legia. I'd welcome the Legia tie tbh, I think we need to prove we are better than a (1-6) aggregate melt-down. Still gotta get by Astana tomorrow tho, can't wait!

 

To be fair they are scary big bast@rds

 

Image removed.

 

Its tough to say. Dundalk are arguably the best side Ireland has produced in years. They would comfortably hold their own in the SPL. Cork probably the same. The rest would be championship level or lower. What has really helped the irish teams is summer football- the season runs march- november so those teams are midway through the season.