Dramatically qualifying for the Champions League, Baku’s “Sabah,” coached by a 49-year-old from Pakruojis, will play at least eight matches against eight different opponents.
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The hands of French and Spanish legends Thierry Henry and David Villa, who pressed the button of the computer that pulled the balls and generated the pairs, determined that V. Dambrauskas’s team will host the Spanish champion “Barcelona” at home, and will also visit the fortress of last year’s strongest English team, London “Arsenal,” at the “Emirates” stadium.
“Sabah” will also host one of the strongest German teams, Dortmund’s “Borussia,” and will travel to the famous “Old Trafford” stadium to play against the English giant “Manchester United.”
The remaining “Sabah” opponents are Spanish “Villarreal” (away), Italian “Napoli” (home), Czech Prague “Slavia” (home), and Norwegian Stavanger “Viking” (away).
We remind you that V. Dambrauskas became the first Lithuanian head coach to lead his team to the Champions League. “Sabah,” founded only in 2017, will participate for the first time in one of the three European football tournaments.
Among other interesting upcoming clashes are matches between multiple champions Madrid “Real” and English champion London “Arsenal,” “Manchester City” duels with defending champion “Paris Saint-Germain” and “Barcelona,” as well as PSG – “Barca,” “Bayern” – “Arsenal,” “Liverpool” – Milan “Inter,” and other matches of the continent’s strongest teams.
The exact match schedule will be revealed by Saturday at the latest.
We remind you that the Champions League will be played for the third season using a combined table system, with the schedule arranged according to the so-called “Swiss” model. All 36 teams participating in the tournament will compete in a combined ranking, although they will play against different opponents – a total of eight rounds will take place.
The clubs finishing in the top 8 will advance directly to the round of 16, teams placed 9-24 will play in the round of 32, and teams in positions 25-36 will end their season after the first stage.
The main Champions League stage will start in less than two weeks – the first round matches will take place on September 8-10. The main stage will end on January 27 next year, when all teams will play matches simultaneously.
The knockout stage will begin on February 16, and this season’s champions will be decided on June 5, when the final will be played at Madrid’s “Metropolitano” stadium.
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