Champions League Third Qualifying Round – McClaren’s Revenge?

By: Daryl | August 1st, 2008

The big Steve McClaren plan was to fold up the brolly, dust himself off, pretend Euro 2008 never happened and go prove himself in foreign lands. And lo and behold, the Champions League Third Qualifying Round draw has paired his new team FC Twente with the Premier League’s very own Arsenal. I’ll bet he never thought he’d get a chance to redeem himself so quickly. Oh wait, apparently he did:

“I expected one of the English teams – fate deals you certain cards and it has dealt us this card. On one hand it is very, very tough — we know that — but on the other very exciting.”

I’d forgotten how simultaneously silly and dull Steve McClaren’s quotes were.

But the man now has the chance to prove myself and all the other haters wrong. And to take a small slice of revenge on those who mocked him for, well, for doing a shitty job as England manager. All he has to do is beat Arsenal over two legs. And remember to leave the brolly at home. Rest of the draw after the jump:

Of course, McClaren’s shot at glory isn’t the only story here. Easily the biggest game is Schalke 04 vs Atletico Madrid, two big teams who’ll be expecting to go through.

Barcelona face a trip to either Wisla Krakow or Beitar Jerusalem, neither of which will be easy, and could conceivably get messy without Messi (sorry) while Liverpool have a potentially troublesome opponent in Standard Liege.

So here is the draw. First legs will be played August 12th and 13th, second legs will be August 26th and 27th. The 16 winners will join the 16 already qualified teams in the groups stages.

Anorthosis Famugusta (Cyprus) or Rapid Vienna (Austria) v
Olympiakos Piraeus (Greece)

Vitoria Guimaraes (Portugal) v IFK Gothenburg (Sweden) or
Basel (Switzerland)

Shakhtar Donetsk (Ukraine) v Domzale (Slovenia) or Dinamo
Zagreb (Croatia)

Schalke 04 (Germany) v Atletico Madrid (Spain)

AaB Aalborg (Denmark) or Modrica (Bosnia) v Rangers
(Scotland) or Kaunas (Lithuania)

Barcelona (Spain) v Beitar Jerusalem (Israel) or Wisla
Krakow (Poland)

Levski Sofia (Bulgaria) v Anderlecht (Belgium) or BATE
Borisov (Belarus)

Standard Liege (Belgium) v Liverpool (England)

FC Baku (Azerbaijan) or Partizan Belgrade (Serbia) v
Fenerbahce (Turkey) or MTK Hungaria (Hungary)

Twente Enschede (Netherlands) v Arsenal (England)

Spartak Moscow (Russia) v Drogheda United (Ireland) or
Dynamo Kiev (Ukraine)

Juventus (Italy) v Tampere United (Finland) or Artmedia
Bratislava (Slovakia)

Brann Bergen (Norway) or Ventspils (Latvia) v Olympique
Marseille (France)

Fiorentina (Italy) v Slavia Prague (Czech Republic)

Galatasaray (Turkey) v Steaua Bucharest (Romania)

Panathinaikos (Greece) or Dinamo Tbilisi (Georgia) v Sheriff
(Moldova) or Sparta Prague (Czech Republic)

[source: Reuters]