Champions League 2015/16 Qualification

Few interesting ties especially Fenerbache v Shakhtar, Salzburg v Malmo and Panathinaikos v Club Brugge. We (Celtic) got drawn against Qarabag of Azerbaijan which looks like it will be a tricky tie.

Steaua Bucharest vs Partizan Belgrad, that's a game to watch.

I'd like to see Shakhtar in the group stages of UCL so I hope they'll beat Fenerbache.

FC Basel 1893 should be able to dispatch Lech Posen; the other Swiss team, Young Boys Bern, will likely end their campain in this round against AS Monaco, though...

Oh, by the way - here are the 3rd round matches in full:

Champions route
KKS Lech Poznań (POL) v FC Basel 1893 (SUI)
FC Milsami Orhei (MDA) v KF Skënderbeu (ALB)
HJK Helsinki (FIN) v FC Astana (KAZ)
Celtic FC (SCO) v Qarabağ FK (AZE)
FC Steaua Bucureşti (ROU) v FK Partizan (SRB)
FC Midtjylland (DEN) v APOEL FC (CYP)
Maccabi Tel-Aviv FC (ISR) v FC Viktoria Plzeň (CZE)
GNK Dinamo Zagreb (CRO) v Molde FK (NOR)
Videoton FC (HUN) v FC BATE Borisov (BLR)
FC Salzburg (AUT) v Malmö FF (SWE)

League route
Panathinaikos FC (GRE) v Club Brugge KV (BEL)
BSC Young Boys (SUI) v AS Monaco FC (FRA)
PFC CSKA Moskva (RUS) v AC Sparta Praha (CZE)
SK Rapid Wien (AUT) v AFC Ajax (NED)
Fenerbahçe SK (TUR) v FC Shakhtar Donetsk (UKR)

Bye to play-offs:
Manchester United FC (ENG)
Valencia CF (ESP)
Bayer 04 Leverkusen (GER)
Sporting Clube de Portugal (POR)
SS Lazio (ITA)

Source: http://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/news/newsid=2267099.html

Basel still have to play qualifiers? That too in the third round!

That's because the other Swiss clubs failed to collect sufficient points to boost Switzerland's 5-year-ranking sufficiently. IIRC, in the next year they should be high enough to merit a direct CL group stage entrance for the Swiss Champion.

Rapid Wien just took the lead against Ajax in Amsterdam

Can't wait until FdB is replaced. What an impotent manager.

wow 2-0 now

They should have walked this match-up. They don't have an overly strong team this year, but they are playing the most listless football I've ever seen at Ajax. It's actually depressing.

de Boer will not survive this season, I pray.

I can't believe this useless pos is still in charge but with the other clueless idiots in charge of the club what can you expect.
I just want them all gone. Most of all Overmars.

0:0 after half an hour in Monaco. YB only need to score three goals to proceed ^^

To watch a team like Ajax become what it has under FdB and the board is incredible.

Honestly Ajax have been completely lifeless. You saw it in the first leg also...especially when Rapid were down to 10 men. There's no urgency, creativity or life to the way they play at all. It's depressing to watch. How far Ajax have fallen under de Boer.

I could accept them losing to even teams like Rapid if they were actually playing real football.

The worst thing possible happened when de Boer took over because the rest of the Eredivisie was so poor at the time. Ajax were able to walk the league regardless of the manager. He has always been poor in cup ties and Europe though. Hopefully he doesn't last the full season and there's some kind of overhaul coming. They need it.

What a goal by Ajax, that's more like it!

Ajax is so fragile. Lol. Gudelj scores andthen turns into a defensive clown.

1-0 Monaco

Curtinho wrote:To watch a team like Ajax become what it has under FdB and the board is incredible.

Honestly Ajax have been completely lifeless. You saw it in the first leg also...especially when Rapid were down to 10 men. There's no urgency, creativity or life to the way they play at all. It's depressing to watch. How far Ajax have fallen under de Boer.

I could accept them losing to even teams like Rapid if they were actually playing real football.

The worst thing possible happened when de Boer took over because the rest of the Eredivisie was so poor at the time. Ajax were able to walk the league regardless of the manager. He has always been poor in cup ties and Europe though. Hopefully he doesn't last the full season and there's some kind of overhaul coming. They need it.

Agree with all the above.

So we have 3 goals in Monaco now. Sadly against YB, as they messed up as usual. In Switzerland there is a term for totally messing up things football-wise: "veryoungboysen" XD

Monaco are going to be a beast... i'm going to keep saying it all season As long as they finish behind OM by some miracle in Ligue 1, i have no problem with them doing well in CL.

Celtic through

Astana of Kazakhstan through to the play-offs after beating Helsinki 4-3. Last minute winner, too.

CSKA making hard work of Sparta Prague. Leading 5-4 on agg with a few minutes to go.

HT - FC Basel 1893 0:0 Lech Poznań
(First leg: Poznan 1:3 Basel)

FC Basel 1893 through courtesy of an uninspired 1:0 against Lech Poznań with the only goal in the last minutes of injury time by Birkir Bjarnason.

Partizan Belgrade - Steaua 4-2 (5-3 aggregate). Steaua were up 2-1 at HT but then lost a player (red card). Disappointing.

I honestly hope Steaua doesn't qualify for EL Groups - poor team, poor coach and a clown club owner.

Shakhtar stuck three past Fenerbahce, meaning Nani and van Persie will now have to be content with the Europa League this season.

The play-offs:

Champions Route

Seeded: Basel (SUI), Celtic (SCO), APOEL (CYP), BATE (BLR), Dinamo Zagreb (CRO)

Unseeded: Maccabi Tel-Aviv (ISR), Partizan (SER), Malmo (SWE), Skenderbeu (ALB), Astana (KAZ)

League Route

Seeded: Manchester United (ENG), Valencia (ESP), Bayer Leverkusen (GER), Shahktar Donetsk (UKR), Sporting CP (POR)

Unseeded: CSKA Moscow (RUS), Lazio (ITA), Club Brugge (BEL), Monaco (FRA), Rapid Wien (AUS)