Yeah, you're right. We were probably dragged to watch it...
...like we are the friendly against Celtic tomorrow....
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Vicky
...like we are the friendly against Celtic tomorrow....
Vicky
| QUOTE |
| Tough draws for British sides · Liverpool paired with Toulouse · Celtic drawn against Spartak Moscow · Arsenal to face Sparta Prague Paul Doyle Friday August 3, 2007 Guardian Unlimited They're all playing for the chance to play for this little trophy. Photograph: Thanassis Stavrakis/AP To qualify for the group stages of football's premier competition, Liverpool will have to triumph against a team from France's rugby heartland after the draw for the preliminary round of the Champions League today paired them with Toulouse. Arsenal will have a more straightforward task in disposing of Sparta Prague. Celtic, however, were directed down one of the hardest possible routes to the group stages after being drawn against last season's Russian runners-up and current league leaders Spartak Moscow. If Rangers can overcome FC Zeta, against whom they hold a 2-0 lead from the first leg, they will face the winners of the Red Star Belgrade/Levadia Tallin tie. Rafael Benítez's side will be strong favourites to progress in their tie, but Toulouse, taking part in the tournament for the first time, nevertheless represent a serious obstacle. Their third-place finish in Ligue 1 may have been as surprising as it was dramatic - they booked their passage to the Champions League in the last minute of the final day of the season (and even then only after a controversial league ruling awarded them a victory in a previous match against Nantes, which had been abandoned amid crowd trouble with the scores at 0-0) - but they boast some excellent players. Swedish striker Johan Elmander was the revelation of the French league last season and Toulouse had to haggle hard to persuade him to resist offers from, among others, Lyon and Manchester City. Fodé Mansaré was a skilful foil for him last season, though that frontline may be rearranged to accommodate 21-year-old new signing Andre-Pierre Gignac, one of the brigh-*test*-('") forward hopes of French football. Toulouse will be hit hard, however, by the absences of key defenders Daniel Congré and Dominique Arribagé through injury. Arsenal's opponents, meanwhile, last season won their 34th domestic title and became the first club since the break-up of Czechoslovakia in the early 1990s to win the domestic double. But Sparta's best performance in continental competition came in 1992-93, when they reached the semi-final group stage under an old format of the Champions League. Champions League third-round qualifying draw in full FH Hafnarfjördur or FC Borisov v Zaglebie Lubin or Steaua Bucharest Tampere United or Levski Sofia v Astana or Rosenborg Spartak Moscow v CELTICWerder Bremen v NK Domzale or Dinamo Zagreb FK Ventspils or FC Salzburg v Pyunik or Shakhtar Donetsk Ajax v MSK Zilina or SK Slavia Prague Valencia v Debreceni or IF Elfsborg Genk or FK Sarajevo v Dynamo Kiev Fenerbahce v Anderlecht RANGERS or FK Zeta v Red Star Belgrade or Levadia Tallinn Toulouse v LIVERPOOL Benfica v FC Copenhagen or Beitar Jerusalem Lazio v Dinamo Bucuresti Sparta Prague v ARSENAL FC Zurich v Sheriff or Besiktas Sevilla v AEK Athens The first legs will be played on August 14 and 15, and the second legs on August 28 and 29. |
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