Debrecen, Dinamo and Salzburg made to sweat
Saturday, July 21, 2012
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Debreceni VSC, FC Salzburg and GNK Dinamo Zagreb are among the more heralded teams who have work to do when the second qualifying round concludes on Tuesday and Wednesday.
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While HJK Helsinki, Neftçi PFK, FK Partizan, AEL Limassol FC, NK Maribor and Molde FK are well positioned heading into the second legs of their UEFA Champions League qualifying round ties, the likes of FC Salzburg, Debreceni VSC and GNK Dinamo Zagreb still have plenty of work to do.
Salzburg were victims of one of the shocks of the round so far when they fell to a 1-0 first-leg defeat by ten-time champions of Luxembourg F91 Dudelange last week. The Austrian side, whose coach Roger Schmidt labelled their performance in Dudelange as "unacceptable", now need victory on home soil in order to stand a chance of booking a meeting with Maribor or FK Željezničar in the third qualifying round. The Slovenian title holders have a 4-1 advantage to protect.
Debrecen, who featured in the 2009/10 group stage, also lost 1-0 first time out. Their vanquishers were KS Skënderbeu – a first European win for the Albanian side – and they now face an uphill struggle to take on FC BATE Borisov or FK Vardar in the next round. BATE were 2-1 down going into added time in the first leg but emerged with a dramatic 3-2 victory.
Dinamo, meanwhile, are looking to build on a 1-1 draw with Bulgarian champions PFC Ludogorets Razgrad and secure a third qualifying round tie against either Ulisses FC or FC Sheriff, with the Moldovan outfit 1-0 to the good as it stands.
Helsinki have a far more comfortable lead to fall back on having triumphed 7-0 against KR Reykjavík. Elsewhere, Neftçi, Partizan, AEL and Molde hold three-goal advantages over FC Zestafoni, Valletta FC, Linfield FC and FK Ventspils respectively.