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Scottish Clubs in Europe - 2018/19


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Celtic - Enter the Champions League Qualifying Stages (Champions Path) at the First Qualifying Round. Which is actually the '2nd' round of Qualifying after the Preliminary Round held in Gibraltar between clubs from Gibraltar, San Marino, Andorra, and Kosovo.  Starting on July 10th/11th, they will be playing before the World Cup has even finished and will have to make it through 4 rounds of Qualifying before they can make it into the Group Stages. Only four teams from the 'Champions Path' will qualify for the Group Stages, including teams such as PSV, Young Boys, Red Bull Salzburg, AEK Athens, BATE Borisov and Dinamo Zagreb. Celtic will probably be seeded until the Play-Off Round and that's where it may be very difficult for them, especially as they will have been playing midweek games for eight weeks straight by that point.

Aberdeen - Enter the Europa League at the Second Qualifying Round, due to start on July 26th. So a little bit longer summer break than any other Scottish club, unlike in the vast majority of previous years which have often had their season starting in June. Will likely be seeded in the Second Qualifying Round, which includes Sevilla, RB Leipzig and somehow Burnley. The restructuring of the Europa League will see a lot of very high pedigree European teams enter the competition earlier and will see it harder to make it even past the Third Qualifying Round. But at least McInnes will have a little bit longer to put together the team over the summer and have a decent break.

Rangers and Hibernian - Enter the Europa League at the First Qualifying Round, due to start on July 12th. So probably best that Rangers aren't drawn to a team in Ireland or Northern Ireland. And again, both clubs will be playing whilst the World Cup is ongoing Both are on the fringes of being seeded for the First Qualifying Round and will largely depend on the remaining spots in the competition to be decided. Last year both Scottish clubs that entered at the same stage both crashed out in embarrassing fashion. The summer break is short for two clubs that will likely have a lot of 'remodeling' to do and will be a real early test for them. These will be Steven Gerrard's first competitive games in charge of Rangers.

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  • 5 weeks later...
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Burnley will love that - doesn't affect their pre-season too much - considering they could have been travelling thousands of miles to other end of Europe.

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9 minutes ago, Cannabis said:

Disagree.

Aberdeen are a tough team, despite being close by I'd rather play some dross out in Kazakhstan.

really?
shit pitches, worse conditions in that area of the world whereas they're more likely to be used to conditions in UK here? Probably get more fans up to Aberdeen to support them as opposed to trekking 5/6 hours to arse end of Europe

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Yeah, I'm with Stan. 

I think of National Teams and what Jurgen Klinsman said about coaching the US. 

Everything thinks it's easy to coach in the CONCACAF, but the difference is going to Estonia for a match is very different than going to Haiti where the pitch is half dirt with uneven surfaces. 

And yes, that's paraphrased, but he has a point. 

If I were Aberdeen, I'd rather play an English side than one in the middle of nowhere with likely poor amenities. 

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At the very least, there will be a lot more interest than usual from the media in Aberdeen's European games. At least enough so they aren't stuck on Premier Sports, which has been become a staple of every Aberdeen pub over the last four summers. Depending on the ticket allocation will probably try and get along to the away leg as well. Forgive my lack of geography of England, but a quick glance and Manchester probably looks the best place to try and get a hotel for?

Meanwhile...

If Rangers get through, they'll play either Moldovan side CS Petrocub and Croatia's Osijek in the second round. A quick glance and Osijek beat PSV home and away last year in the Europa League qualifiers, before losing to FK Austria Wien on away goals. They only finished fourth in their league last season though. Rangers could have had a much worse draw.

If Hibs get though, they'll play Greek side Asteras Tripolis in the second round. They haven't played in Europe for two seasons and finished fifth in the Greek Super League last year. A tricky tie, but at least their supporters should get a good trip to a rather nice place. I can only imagine that the heat will be a major factor for them.

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  • 3 weeks later...
On 11/07/2018 at 10:44, Smiley Culture said:

Rangers and Hibs out before August and Celtic will get to the group stages where they’ll get pumped. 

So both Rangers and Hibs out this round then?

Rangers (and Steven Gerrard) are on BT Sport tonight. 19:45 kick off

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Watched Hibernian's game... it was pretty entertaining xD the red card helped a lot and Hibees played their game freely. Could have scored 10 goals easily. They had 3 posts at least. Faroe Islands shouldn't even have a football league xD

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On 12/07/2018 at 21:57, Dalmore said:

Watched Hibernian's game... it was pretty entertaining xD the red card helped a lot and Hibees played their game freely. Could have scored 10 goals easily. They had 3 posts at least. Faroe Islands shouldn't even have a football league xD

Their goalkeeper is probably the worst I've ever seen. 

Three games and three victories, couldn't have asked for a better start for the Scottish representatives.

It's a low bar, but the last few years have thrown up some disastrous results at this stage.

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Rangers through, but Steven Gerrard was unhappy with their performance.

Quote

But I'm disappointed with us in possession for the first 30 minutes. I don't think we passed the ball well enough, and throughout the game there was a serious lack of quality in the final third

 

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Rangers investigating a man allegedly racially abusing a child 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/scotland/44888334

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Rangers have contacted Police Scotland after footage emerged of a fan seeming to racially abuse a child before the club's Europa League tie in Macedonia.

The footage, which has been condemned by the club's fans on social media, ends with the man saying "white power" to a group of Macedonian children.

It was apparently filmed before the goalless first qualifying round second leg against Shkupi on Tuesday.

A statement said that Rangers "will take the appropriate steps".

It added: "This kind of behaviour is unacceptable and Rangers have been in touch with Police Scotland."

Police Scotland confirmed that they have brought the footage to the attention of their Macedonian counterparts and are "providing them assistance in their investigation".

Charity Show Racism the Red Card said they "are disgusted by the racism and dehumanisation" in the footage and asked anyone with information to get in touch.

 

 

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Rangers win away from home, Hibs come back from 2-0 down to win... And then there is Aberdeen throwing away victory with the end of the game almost in sight.

Scottish football hasn't had many better weeks in Europe than this week. Still a lot of work to be done, but still huge possibilities for these teams.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Celtic comfortably through after a 0-0 draw in Norway. Now through to a huge game against the Greek champions, AEK Athens. Probably the toughest test that Brendan Rodgers has faced in the qualifying rounds in his time at Celtic. PAOK, the runners-up from the Greek Super League last year, just beat Basel 5-1 on aggregate so the quality of that league is not doubted. The one advantage Celtic have is that it will be AEK's first competitive games of the season.

Meanwhile, Hibs and Rangers are both through as well. Beating the 5th best team from Greece and the 4th best team from Croatia. Now Hibs take on Molde, while Rangers take on Maribor. There is no reason why both clubs cannot advance. Especially if Scottish teams have aspirations of reaching the lucrative stages and, in the long run, raising the coefficient of the country.

And finally, unfortunately, Aberdeen's European run is over after only two games. Ultimately not being able to hold on for the final ten minutes at home cost them. And having to be away from home in the second leg, leading to Burnley having an extra 30 minute home advantage.

Even with one club out, a huge difference from last summer. Such a change in the perception of the league and taking back some credibility. 

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