Shocks in the offing as Champions League approaches 3rd qualifying round

With the Cham­pi­ons League 3^rd qual­i­fy­ing round draw­ing ever closer, a num­ber of clubs are in with a chance of caus­ing real upsets as they bid to qual­ify for the lucra­tive group stage.

Irish cham­pi­ons Bohemi­ans have put them­selves in a strong posi­tion after hold­ing FC Salzburg to a 1–1 draw in Aus­tria but far from bask­ing in their achieve­ment, Bohemi­ans man­ager Patrick Fen­lon has called on his team to fin­ish the job. Speak­ing to uefa.com Fen­lon said: “They have to fin­ish it off. There’s no point in talk­ing about get­ting a 1–1 draw in Aus­tria if you end up going out in the home leg.

“I have been in this posi­tion before as a player and a coach: you get a big result away from home but you can’t fin­ish the job at home”

“I don’t want a ‘well done’ story and a pat on the back so we can think about next sea­son; I want us to fin­ish it off. I know what it would mean to the club if we can fin­ish it off.”

Another unfan­cied side in pole posi­tion are the Eston­ian cham­pi­ons FC Leva­dia Tallinn, who man­aged a 1–1 draw away to Wisla Krakow. Wisla’s under pres­sure coach Maciej Sko­rza could face the sack should his side fail to come through the tie. Speak­ing after the first leg Sko­rza said: “I admit I over­coached my team phys­i­cally. The play­ers were exhausted, but I still thought that it would be enough to win that game.

“The draw is a dis­as­ter, how­ever there is the rematch Wednesday.”

Else­where, the for­mer group stage par­tic­i­pants found their tasks some­what eas­ier, with Lev­ski Sofia and Par­ti­zan Bel­grade both win­ning their first leg ties 4–0, while Mac­cabi Haifa take a near unas­sail­able 6–0 lead to Israel, for the con­clu­sion of their match with North­ern Ireland’s Glentoran.