The Champions League is one of my favorite sports competitions because it is practically all year-round. The first qualifying round started on July 3, after the final of last year's edition was only May 19. I did not do extensive previews on the first two rounds because many of the clubs are very small from the smaller European countries, and I don't know much about them. But now that we are at the third round, the clubs are big enough to have international recognition. Most of the ties at this point are very tight - last year, twelve of the fifteen aggregate scores were decided by two goals or less, and the other three were decided by three goals.
The Champions Route features two clubs who participated in the group stages last year (BATE Borisov, Dinamo Zagreb), as well as a club who reached the knockout stages (FC Basel). F91 Dudelange are the surprise inclusion, as the Luxembourg club defeated Austrian giants Red Bull Salzburg on away goals in the second round. They take on Maribor from Slovakia, who are far from unbeatable, but you feel as if the Cinderella run ends for Dudelange. There are a number of fixtures between sides that could hold their own in the group stages. The tie between Cypriot champions AEL Limassol and Serbians Partizan Belgrade should be very tight. AEL have some quality in their team and look to follow the footsteps of fellow Cypriot side APOEL's run to the quarterfinals in last year's competition. Partizan have featured in the group stages throughout their history and narrowly lost to Belgian side Genk at this stage last year. Partizan definitely have the edge in experience, but AEL have a bit more quality. I expect this tie to be decided by a goal or less. The feature tie is between Molde FK of Norway and FC Basel of Switzerland. Molde are led by Manchester United legend Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, while Basel defeated Manchester United to reach the knockout stages last year. Despite losing playmaker Xherdan Shaqiri to Bayern Munich, Basel have the rest of their playmakers back, with the added experience of last year's victories. I expect Basel to win the tie, but this will be one of the higher quality match-ups that we see this early in the competition.
The Non-Champions Route is less appetizing, but I do think the tie between Motherwell and Panathinaikos is worth looking at. Scottish football's reputation is on the line after the collapse of Rangers, and Motherwell take their spot in the Champions League after finishing third in the SPL last year. The drop in quality in the league, however, is astounding, as Motherwell finished 31 points behind champions Celtic. It is worth noting that only one team (Hearts) have finished in the top 2 in the SPL in the last seventeen years. Panathinaikos are back into qualifying after another second-place finish, and look to avenge last year's disappointing loss to Odense. After suffering serious financial problems, the Greens are looking to join rivals Olympiacos by qualifying for the group stages. I expect Panathinaikos to expose the general weakness of the SPL by easily defeating Motherwell over two legs.
Full Predictions:
Maribor (SVK) o/ F91 Dudelange (LUX)
BATE (BLR) o/ Debrecen (HUN)
CFR Cluj (ROM) o/ Slovan Liberec (CZE)
Anderlecht (BEL) o/ Ekranas (LTH)
Slask Wroclaw (POL) o/ Helsingborg (SWE)
Dinamo Zagreb (CRO) o/ Sheriff Tiraspol (MOL)
Celtic (SCO) o/ HJK Helsinki (FIN)
FC Basel (SUI) o/ Molde FK (NOR)
Ironi Kiryat Shmona (ISR) o/ Neftchi Baku (AZE)
AEL Limassol (CYP) o/ Partizan Belgrade (SRB)
Fenerbahce (TUR) o/ FC Vaslui (ROM)
Panathinaikos (GRE) o/ Motherwell (SCO)
FC Copenhagen (DEN) o/ Club Brugge (BEL)
Dynamo Kiev (UKR) o/ Feyenoord Rotterdam (NED)
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