Fight for UCL slots hots up

Fight for UCL slots hots up

The battle for Champions League places intensifies now as some quality teams enter the fray and then come the weekend it’s what everybody has been waiting for - the start of the PSL and EPL with R750,000 cash add-ins from TAB adding to the excitement

By Mark Gleeson

We are now two rounds of knockout matches away from finalising the field for the lucrative group phase of the UEFA Champions League and tonight and tomorrow sees the scrap for group places continue.

Two preliminary knockout rounds have been completed with some notable casualties - and a third starts tonight with better-quality teams entering the field. Benfica, PSV Eindhoven and Red Star Belgrade are past European Cup winners, while Monaco and Glasgow Rangers also have a pedigree in European club competition.

Monaco tonight host PSV, who have Ruud van Nistelrooy as their new coach and Benfica are at home to Denmark’s FC Midtjylland.

Rangers are at Belgian league runners-up Union Saint-Gilloise, the club who only won promotion to the top flight the season before last and then shocked Belgian soccer fans by leading the premier league standings almost until the end of the campaign before they were caught by Club Brugge.

Percy Tau’s old club have since lost their inspirational coach Felice Mazzu and have started the new Belgian league season with four points from their opening two games.

Rangers lost in the Europa League final in May, so will be full of confidence for another European adventure. They began their season with a come-from-behind win at Livingstone on Saturday.

Red Star are a far cry from the powerful side that they were in the 1980s, but should still be too strong for Pyunik Yerevan from Armenia in their Champions League clash.

These are all first-leg ties with the returns to come next week and you will find the pick of them in midweek TAB soccer pools.

South America’s top club competition also continues over the next days as the Copa Libertadores reaches the quarter-final stage.

The dominance of Argentine and Brazilian sides on that continent is evidenced by the fact they are the only countries left with representatives in the last eight. There are five Brazilian clubs and three from Argentina - and the Argentines will lose one more before the semi-final as Velez Sarsfield take on Talleres de Cordoba, a surprise package who are only in the Copa Libertadores for the third time after 2002 and 2019.

Velez are fancied for first-leg success, but the other ties are expected to be closely contested.

Palmeiras are looking for a third successive success in the competition and have a tough task away at Atletico Mineiro in Belo Horizonte in a clash of the two current giants of the Brazilian game.

Both the PSL and English Premier League kick off this Friday and to celebrate the start of the new season TAB will add R750,000 to six selected soccer pools through the weekend. All the details are in this edition of TAB Sports Express and you can get the latest info in Friday’s TAB Sports Express Update and at www.soccer6.co.za