Champions League, the first leg of the second qualifying round comes to a close: news and predictions.
The big surprise of the first qualifying round was the feat of Klaksvik, a small club from the Faroe Islands, who, against all odds, eliminated the higher-ranked Ferencvaros, sending the Hungarians to the Conference League preliminaries.
After the 0-0 first leg, many were predicting a comfortable green-and-white success in Budapest. Instead, the men coached by Norwegian Magne Hoseth won 3-0 in the Hungarian capital, in front of the warm Puskas Arena audience. A result that is surprising but not too surprising, as Klaksvik have given several teams a hard time in the cup preliminaries in recent seasons. The Faroese now dream of another sporting miracle, this time against the Swedes from Hacken. It will not be easy to come back: this time they will find an opponent whose championship is in full swing. The yellow-and-whites are in the title race together with Malmo and Elfsborg. And on the last day, perhaps distracted by their imminent European commitment, they were mocked 1-0 at Varnamo, losing contact with the summit. We hypothesise another tricky evening for Hacken, in a match in which the total number of goals could be at least three. Bate Borisov, who struggled to overcome Partizani Albanians in the first round, also have a tough task ahead of them: Aris Limassol Cypriots, fresh from winning the Super Cup, have something more to offer than the Belarusians.
Champions League: balance between Sheriff and Maccabi
The match between Sheriff Tiraspol and Maccabi Haifa, two teams who have recently played in the group stage of the Champions League and have also taken important scalps (Real Madrid and Juventus), is rich in contrasts.
Sheriff’s Bueno
The Transnistrian club are far from the levels of two years ago but in the first round they managed to overturn Farul Constanta, who had prevailed 1-0 in the first leg, making the most of their home factor and greater experience in the return match, which ended 3-0. Everything was easy for the Israelis, who defeated the Maltese Hamrun Spartans (0-4 and 2-1) without any major problems. A balanced double-header looms, but Sheriff should be able to avoid defeat in front of their home crowd: the feeling is that qualification will be decided in Israel. Qarabag will be in danger, as they will have to face the last Ekstraklasa champions, Rakow. The Poles looked impeccable in the first round against Flora Tallin and made their league debut by beating Jagiellonia 3-0.
They have yet to concede a goal in an official match, but against the Azeris, who are coming off a six-goal victory over the Lincoln Red Imps, it will not be easy to keep a clean sheet. Finally, the odds are skewed in favour of the Bulgarians from Ludogorets in their match against Olympia Ljubljana. In the previous round, the green-and-whites were able to straighten out a worrying situation – they had lost 2-0 in the first leg – by overwhelming Ballkani 4-0 in the return match.
Champions League: likely winners
- Aris (in Aris-Bate Borisov, 7pm)
- Sheriff Tiraspol or draw (in Sheriff Tiraspol-Maccabi Haifa, 7pm)
- Ludogorets (in Ludogorets-Olimpia Ljubljana, 20:45)