draw for 1st and 2nd qualifying round Champions League (19.6)

[SteffenM]

@mspm and @SimonB
You are of course right, now you mention it, I recall it have been mentioned.

SteffenM, what were the quotes for Nidderkuer-Glasgow Rangers with the bookmakers?...and i NEVER play any game including money

That's why we talked about it.
Glasgow should win that match 98 times if they played 100,
but they didn't.

Same way, APOEL should win your match 98 out of 100 times.
If APOEL losses, well yeah, then we will talk about it.

If APOEL wins, then not really, beacause that would be expected.

[Malko]

Cyprus is not mut better than Luxembourg....even if this club has some notable results the last years....

[AlanK]

Cyprus is not mut better than Luxembourg....even if this club has some notable results the last years....

Reality check 25th vs 48th

[SteffenM]

Not sure,
Biased out of sanity, Stupid or Trolling?

[Dragonite]

The coefficient gap is only 11.300.
It’s not the first time that he ignores that an 11+ coefficient gap exists between two countries.
And he isn’t even the only one doing it.

So why is this Cyprus vs. Luxembourg case so different from the others, created by Malko or not?

[AlanK]

The coefficient gap is only 11.300.
It’s not the first time that he ignores that an 11+ coefficient gap exists between two countries.
And he isn’t even the only one doing it.

So why is this Cyprus vs. Luxembourg case so different from the others, created by Malko or not?

Luxembourg averages 0.975 coefficient points per year over the last five full seasons. Makes a gap of 11.300 seem rather a large difference . . .

[APOEL]

Cyprus is not mut better than Luxembourg....even if this club has some notable results the last years....

APOEL played in the quarter finals of Champions League some years ago, and went into the last 16 of Europa League the year before beating Athletic Bilbao. What has a Luxemburg team done in any year that is worth mentioning?

[Kerberos]

Cyprus is not mut better than Luxembourg....even if this club has some notable results the last years....

APOEL played in the quarter finals of Champions League some years ago, and went into the last 16 of Europa League the year before beating Athletic Bilbao. What has a Luxemburg team done in any year that is worth mentioning?

there's no reasoning with malko, I don't understand why you even bother respond to that retarded claim, that they should be anywhere near Cyprus(and I don't even like Cypriot teams, you know why apoel;) )

[Maxi Lozzo]

Qarabağ (AZB) - Samtredia (GEO) 90-10
See you next year, Georgia.

Hibernians (MLT) - Salzburg (AUT) 25-75
This shouldn’t be the Round in which Salzburg goes out, but you never know with RBS…

Rijeka (CRO) - The New Saints (WAL) 60-40
Potential (big) surprise.

Partizan (SRB) - Budućnost (MON) 75-25
Partizan with a small margin.

Spartaks Jūrmala (LAT) - Astana (KAZ) 10-90
A quite closed tie.

APOEL (CYP) - F91 Dudelange (LUX) 75-25

Sheriff (MOL) - Kukësi (ALB) 55-45
A quite balanced tie: Sheriff is stronger but can suffer upsets, while Kukesi showed good things in past UELs.

Hapoel Be'er Sheva (ISR) - Budapest Honvéd (HUN) 75-25
A tie of quite high level: Hapoel is stronger and Honvéd could lack of experience.

Zrinjski Mostar (BOS) - Maribor (SLO) 40-60
A (small) surprise is possible. It will be fought until the final minutes of the second leg.
Maribor is beatable for a decent unseeded side.

Malmö (SWE) - Vardar Skopje (MAC) 75-25

BATE Borisov (BLS) - Alashkert (ARM) 85-15

Žalgiris Vilnius (LIT) - Ludogorets Razgrad (BUL) 42-58
Smell of big upset.

Mariehamn (FIN) - Legia Warszawa (POL) 25-75

Žilina (SVK) - København (DEN) 50-50
The hardest tie. Awful draw for both teams: one of the strongest seeded sides vs one of the strongest unseeded ones.

Dundalk (IRL) - Rosenborg (NOR) 30-70
I can’t see Dundalk repeat themselves.

FH (ISL) - Víkingur (FAR) 55-45
The most interesting tie: very good draw for both teams, that could be quite similar.
If FH advances, it could be the time we finally see an Icelandic club in a Group Stage, because they could have few chances in the Third Round.
Vikingur has relatively high chances to defeat FH, buy they would have no chance at Third Round.

Linfield (NIR) - Celtic (SCO) 20-80
Very interesting tie, more off than on the pitch.

[Lorric]

FH would have a chance in the third round if someone pulled an upset on a Q3 seed and they were to meet. FH vs Mariehamn, FH vs Zalgiris...

[nogomet]

Rijeka are in search of their first European win since November 2014 when they beat Standard Liege 2-0 in EL-GS. After that they lost the MD6 against eventual EL winners Sevilla 1-0, then went out to Aberdeen in EL-Q2 (0-3, 2-2) in 2015, and then in 2016 went out to Istanbul Basaksehir on away goals in EL-Q3 (0-0, 2-2).

It is incredibly important that they put a strong performance tonight because they need one win to release this tension and send them off. I don't consider TNS as the joke team. I wouldn't feel comfortable if Rijeka went to England with only one goal advantage or no advantage at all.

Rijeka did not sell too many players this summer so they could go quite high this season. That is if they don't get massacred by the draw, which is always a possibility because they are unseeded both in CL-Q3 and EL-Q4. Olympiacos and then AC Milan is not impossible, which would be devastating.

[Club-Mate]

the hardest side you can get in CL Q2 is a "desert team" where you get into the match with temperatures of above 30 C. Official temperature La Valletta tonight at 20h - 31 C. feels like 39 C. moderate desert wind! It will be a super slow match in sleeping mode with potential of a goalless draw.
Hibernians - FC Salzburg 0:1

[Dragonite]

The coefficient gap is only 11.300.
It’s not the first time that he ignores that an 11+ coefficient gap exists between two countries.
And he isn’t even the only one doing it.

So why is this Cyprus vs. Luxembourg case so different from the others, created by Malko or not?

Luxembourg averages 0.975 coefficient points per year over the last five full seasons. Makes a gap of 11.300 seem rather a large difference . . .

I was curious about this, and decided to check the biggest improvements and donwfalls comparing the 2017 Country Ranking with the 2012 one.

Biggest improvements:
+20.812 Spain
+13.351 Italy
+12.825 Czech Republic
+11.543 Azerbaijan
+10.000 Belgium

Biggest donwfalls:
-14.452 Netherlands
-9.200 Greece
-8.488 England
-6.949 Cyprus
-6.014 Portugal

So if Cyprus continues to regress almost 7 points in each half-decade, while Luxembourg keeps rising (they went from 2.333 in 2012 to 4.875 in 2017, an improvement of 109%!!), one day Luxembourg may catch them… maybe not in the next five years cycle, but in a more distant future.

[Pete Wisdom]

Cyprus's -6.949 decline is the result of losing the points from the above-average season in which APOEL got to CL QFs, not because their results got worse across the board.

[Jim26]

Rijeka (CRO) - The New Saints (WAL) 60-40
Potential (big) surprise.

Linfield (NIR) - Celtic (SCO) 20-80
Very interesting tie, more off than on the pitch.

I think that's very generous to TNS. Rijeka should win comfortably. Celtic might find the away game tricky, but again I would them a 90%+ chance of progression.