Champions League in the Arctic! — the Norwegian Vikings are also preparing a campaign at the club level

Let's talk about Wednesday's matches. Unlike the previous game day, when all three matches ended in a draw, on Wednesday the results were completely different: two home wins (big and small), a draw and a win for the visitors. If there is intrigue in all of Tuesday's pairings, then it seems that two of Wednesday's four pairings have winners. Slovan (Slovakia) — Celje (Slovenia) — 1:1 Goals: Cheperkai, 15 — Avdyli, 41 Slovan was considered the favorite. He has a stronger squad and has experience playing in the Champions League. In contrast to Celje, who, objectively speaking, has never even hinted at his participation in this tournament before. At the last stage, Celje barely overcame the resistance of Ararat-Armenia. The Slovenian champion lost away from home, and could not score at home for a very long time. The game was broken by Celje's joker, who came in as a substitute - the well-known Benjamin Verbych. It was only his second appearance on the field after returning to his native club (it was in Celje that he began his career), but his skill was enough to break the Armenian defense. The Slovenians scored in the 83rd and 85th minutes, with Verbic scoring the winner. And after that he also knocked the ball with his head from the nine empty own goal. Verbych came on as a substitute in this match as well, but did not show anything outstanding, instead his team looked more than decent. She started actively, did not collapse after the home team's goal and, thanks to a wonderful round shot by Avdila, who played in the position of the left defender, equalized the score even before the break. After that, in the second half, she withstood the pressure of the home team, not forgetting the counterattacks. Slovan, of course, attacked more, took more shots and had more chances, but the Slovaks hit the target only twice from 14 attempts, and the visitors - four times from eight. If anyone doesn't know, Slovan took charge of Yaya Toure in the summer, and this is his first experience of independent coaching at a professional level. Apoel (Beer Sheva, Israel) — Sabah (Azerbaijan) — 2:1 Goals: Ist, 43, Zlatanovich, 79 — Simich, 6 This pair guarantees that there will be a debutant of the tournament in the main stage of the Champions League. Neither Apoel nor Sabah, who became the champion of Azerbaijan for the first time, have not yet played in the group tournament. And, I'll be honest: the reviewed match showed that whoever of them made it to the Champions League, he would be one of the outsiders. First of all, I expected more from the Azerbaijani champion, because let's not forget that the Israelis, like our teams, cannot play in their native stadium and in their native country. So this match took place in the arena of Bucharest Rapid. I thought that at least for this reason, Sabah is the favorite of the couple. And the guests confirmed this assumption by scoring at the very beginning of the match. However, this was the case when a quick goal did not help, but rather hindered. Sabah's actions were somewhat stiff, cautious. The initiative was completely taken by the Israelis, who played faster and much sharper. It is more than fair that they not only equalized, but also won. Listen, this is some kind of sur: Apoel is better than Sabah, which is better than Karabakh, which is better than Dynamo Kyiv... These were the weakest pairs of this round of qualification, but they are the ones that retain the intrigue in contrast to what seemed to be more interesting confrontations. Celtic (Scotland) — LASK (Austria) — 3:0 Goals: Nujgren, 26, Duran, 38, 67 It seems that the score indicates that the game went to one goal. Ha, no matter what! Hits - 17:20, in the plane - 7:8, xG - 0.87 on 1.75! All for the benefit of the guests! With the arrival of Martin O'Neill, Finn Sinisalo became Celtic's main goalkeeper, and in this match he once again thanked the mentor for his trust, saving eight shots! But his colleague from the state of guests, Jungwirth (young Wirth?) hit only four out of seven. Yes, he didn't save, but first of all, the visitors were let down by their defensive play, and more specifically, on take-outs and rebounds. In any case, the first two goals of Celts were scored precisely with kicks from rebounds after unsuccessful clearances by the defenders of the Austrian champion. It seems that the Austrian team is not destined to debut in the main round of the Champions League. Nijmegen — Bude/Glimt — 1:3 Goals: Bischoff, 85 — Fet, 25, Helmersen, 44, pen, Alisami, 50 The same opera... Hits - 22:8, in the plane - 6:4, xG - 2.14 by 1.62! All in favor of the hosts! And the bill... Nijmegen, who have never played before even in the qualifiers for this tournament, really enjoyed their games against Olympiakos. I would even call the victory of the Dutch vice-champion deserved. The team strengthened quite a bit in the summer, signing the talented Storm and Bischoff from the Danish youth ranks, the most experienced Tadic and Mora and a number of other lesser-known players. But again let the goal down