Full guide to third qualifying round draw
Wednesday, July 22, 2015
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Ajax and Shakhtar Donetsk will both be returning to stadiums where they lifted European trophies while Panathinaikos will need to break a hoodoo: an in-depth look at the draw.
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The UEFA Champions League third qualifying round draw has been set after last Friday's draw and this week's second qualifying round second legs. We have some pointers to the ties on 28/29 July and 4/5 August.
Ties of note:
Fenerbahçe v Shakhtar Donetsk
• Shakhtar claimed their only European trophy at Fenerbahçe's Şükrü Saracoğlu Stadium when they beat Werder Bremen to win the 2009 UEFA Cup final.
• Shakhtar coach Mircea Lucescu is also more than familiar with his opponents thanks to stints in charge of Galatasaray (2000–02) and Beşiktaş (2002–04), winning the Turkish league at both clubs but twice conceding the title to Fenerbahçe in that spell.
Rapid Wien v Ajax
• It was at Rapid's Ernst-Happel-Stadion in Vienna that Ajax (with their current coach Frank de Boer in the team) lifted their fourth and most recent European title when they overcame AC Milan in the 1995 UEFA Champions League final.
Young Boys v AS Monaco
• Young Boys are the only one of the ten clubs in the 'league route' (i.e. those in the competition who are not domestic champions) to have never played in the group stage.
• Monaco, who reached the quarter-finals last term, were one of three sides in the draw to have made the 2014/15 knockouts along with Shakhtar and Basel.
Panathinaikos v Club Brugge
• These clubs have been drawn together three times (1977/78 European Cup second round, 1987/88 UEFA Cup quarter-finals and 1994/95 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup second round) and every time Club Brugge have gone through.
CSKA Moskva v Sparta Praha
• CSKA won 3-0 at home and drew 1-1 in Prague in the 2010/11 UEFA Europa League group stage, though both teams ultimately progressed.
FC Salzburg v Malmö
• Malmö will hope to repeat last season's 4-2 aggregate win in the play-offs.
Milsami Orhei v Skënderbeu
• A meeting between two of the four teams whose nations have never been represented in the group stage.
Other facts
• All three new entrants – Basel, Viktoria Plzeň and Salzburg – have previously played in the group stage.
• Among the 17 teams to go through from the second qualifying round, Celtic and Steaua have landed the European Cup.
• Celtic and Steaua have previously advanced to the group stage from the second qualifying round, as have APOEL, BATE (four times including last year), Dinamo Zagreb, Partizan and, also last term, Malmö.
• These teams could be their nation's first group stage representatives: Qarabağ (AZE)*, Skënderbeu (ALB), Astana (KAZ)*, Milsami Orhei (MDA)*.
*Country has had team in UEFA Cup/UEFA Europa League group stage
Up for grabs
• The winners of the 15 ties proceed to the the play-off draw at 12.00CET on 7 August.
• The losers of the 15 ties will transfer to the UEFA Europa League play-off draw an hour later.
• All ten teams in the play-off champions route will emerge from the third qualifying round.
• The five third qualifying round winners in the league route will join Manchester United, Valencia, Bayer Leverkusen, Sporting CP and Lazio in the play-offs.
• Five play-off winners from each route will go through to join the 22 sides already through to the group stage: Barcelona, Bayern München, Chelsea, Benfica, Paris Saint-Germain, Juventus, Zenit, PSV Eindhoven, Real Madrid, Atlético Madrid, Porto, Arsenal, Manchester City, Sevilla, Olympique Lyonnais, Dynamo Kyiv, Olympiacos, Galatasaray, AS Roma, Borussia Mönchengladbach, Wolfsburg and Gent.