Everyone knows that Celtic still have to find their way past Nomme Kalju but just after 11am CPT the draw will be made for the third qualifying round of the Champions League.
The Estonian side will be confident after their surprise win in the first round and will present problems to a Celtic side that almost certainly won’t have a recognised right-back.
Without any doubt PAOK, champions of Greece are the team to avoid in the draw as the stats below illustrate.
2. PAOK [#65]
Fresh off the back of an invincibles season in Greece, in which they won the Greek double. The won 26 of 30 league games, and finished 23pts clear of the AEK side that dumped us out of CL qualifying last season.
QR3 is where they join the tournament.
— Moravcik67 (@Moravcik67_) July 21, 2019
21. If the highest ranked teams progress we’re looking at playing one of PAOK, Qarabag, Maribor, Red Star Belgrade, Maccabi Tel-Aviv and Valletta.
But there’s every chance Ferencvaros will beat Valletta, and Cluj beat Maccabi Tel-Aviv.
— Moravcik67 (@Moravcik67_) July 21, 2019
Olympiacos finished just five points behind PAOK which suggests that they were pushed all the way to lift the title, despite the riches of competing, to use the word loosely for six defeats, in the Champions League AEK were a distant third with a record of 18 wins, 6 draws and 6 defeats.
One advantage of drawing a Greek team is the fact that their first domestic fixture is on August 23 which is between the two legs of the Play Off round meaning that they will certainly be a little raw going into the third round first leg on August 6 or 7.
Celtic will today continue with their preparations for the visit of Nomme with Neil Lennon previewing his pre-match media conference tomorrow which will contain a transfer update.
