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Three potential Champions League play-off opponents for Celtic including Dundalk

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The runners and riders for the play-off round of the Champions League took shape tonight with three potential opponents for Celtic making it through in the unseeded half of the draw.

If Celtic can see off Astana tomorrow night they’ll go into Friday’s draw as a seed which should give Brendan Rodgers side a better opportunity of ending the two year absence from the group phase.

The play-off matches will take place on August 16/17 and 23/24 with both legs televised live by BT Sport who also have the rights to all group stage matches.

Over the last two seasons Celtic have been knocked out by Maribor and Malmo with Ronny Deila’s tenure never really recovering from being knocked out by the Slovenian side after getting a reprieve against Legia Warsaw.

With transfer business slow moving so far Celtic have this weekend to bring in new faces with midnight on August 8 the deadline for registering new signings for the play-off round although a wildcard can be added by midnight the day before the first leg.

CLICK HERE for the play-off qualifiers- if Celtic beat Astana tomorrow night…

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DINAMO ZAGREB

After a comfortable 2-0 win in the home leg Dinamo Zagreb completed the task by beating Dinamo Tbilisi 1-0 in the Ukraine, a goal from Marco Rog in the eighth minute ensured that there was no chance of a comeback.

In the second qualifying round Zagreb won home and away against Vardar of Macedonia to go through on a 5-3 aggregate.

Last season they came through the qualifying campaign to reach the group phase but after beating Arsenal 2-1 in their opening match they went on to lose their five remaining matches to finish bottom of their group.

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DUNDALK

The Irish champions pulled off one of the best results in their history by overturning a 1-0 first leg defeat to beat BATE Borisov 3-0 at Oriel Park.

After knocking out a club that have played in the back-to-back Champions League groups former Dunfermline manager Stephen Kenny will be eyeing up a place in the big time.

Two goals either side of half time from David McMillan put Dundalk ahead on aggregate with Robert Benson killing the tie in the 90th minute. In the previous round Dundalk went through on away goals against Icelandic outfit HF on a 3-3 aggregate.

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LUDOGORETS

After drawing the home leg 2-2 Bulgarian champions Ludogorets matched that score away to former winners Red Star Belgrade before adding two more goals in extra time.

It was an entertaining night in Belgrade with the home side taking the lead but a hat-trick from Brazilian striker Wanderson ensured that the Bulgarian side made it through to the play-off draw.

In the second qualifying round Ludogorets beat Mladost Podgorita of Montenegro 5-0 on aggregate. In 2014 they played Liverpool in the group phase however last season they lost out to Milsami Orhei of Moldova in the second qualifying round of the Champions League.

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LEGIA WARSAW?

The other big match tomorrow night is Legia Warsaw at home to Trencin of Slovenia.

With a 1-0 lead from the away leg Legia are strong favourites to go through with only one qualifying tie appealing to their fanatical and easily led supporters- CELTIC.

In the third and final tie tomorrow night FC Kobenhavn find themselves in the same position as Celtic- playing at home after a 1-1 draw away to Astra of Romania.

All being well at Celtic Park tomorrow night the hoops will go into Friday’s draw as they attempt to overcome the final hurdle on route to the promised land of the Champions League group phase.

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