UEFA.com
July 13 2004
Champions League starts here
It seems like only yesterday that FC Porto were celebrating being
crowned champions of Europe after a memorable 3-0 victory against AS
Monaco FC in Gelsenkirchen. However, time waits for no football team
and so it is that the opening three of a total of 205 matches which
will eventually determine the winners of the 2004/05 UEFA Champions
League take place tonight.
Dream alive
Barring a miracle, none of the six teams in first qualifying round
first-leg action today will be contesting the final on 25 May 2005 in
Istanbul’s Atatürk Olympic stadium. However, the road to every final
has to start somewhere and the champions of Malta, Lithuania, F.Y.R.
Macedonia, Armenia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Azerbaijan will all enter
the competition dreaming of the potential pairings with European big
guns that advancement to the second, or even third, qualifying rounds
might bring.
Two debutants
Two clubs will be making their debuts in European football’s premier
club competition tonight – Bosnia-Herzegovina’s surprise champions NK
Široki Brijeg and FK Pobeda of F.Y.R. Macedonia. Široki play host to
PFC Neftchi at the Pecara stadium with coach Ivo Ištuk worried that
the Azerbaijani side’s superior experience in Europe may prove
crucial. “Neftchi are, in our view, slight favourites because they
have an experienced team,” he said.
Uphill struggle
However, Neftchi’s squad has been weakened since they lifted the
Azeri title, with international defender Samir Abbasov and midfield
player Agil Mamedov leaving the club. And with captain Gurban
Gurbanov suspended for the first leg, they could face an uphill
struggle.
CSKA reward
The reward for the winners of this tie will be a second qualifying
round match against PFC CSKA Moskva, who showed they were vulnerable
to an upset by losing to FK Vardar 3-2 on aggregate at the same stage
of last season’s competition.
Vardar example
Tonight’s other Champions League debutants, Pobeda, will be looking
to emulate the example set by Vardar, the club they deposed as
Macedonian champions last season. However their opponents, Armenian
title-holders FC Pyunik, will be no pushovers.
Pyunik push
Pyunik are already well on the way to a fourth successive domestic
title after 13 games of the 2004 campaign. Furthermore, in their two
previous appearances in this competition, the Armenians have
successfully negotiated the first qualifying round by beating first
KR Reykjavík and then Tampere United. Although they have yet to
progress beyond the second qualifying round they will fancy their
chances of booking a tie in the next round against FC Shakhtar
Donetsk.
Third tie
In the third of tonight’s ties, Sliema Wanderers FC of Malta take on
FBK Kaunas of Lithuania, with a contest against Swedish title-holders
Djurgårdens IF awaiting the victors. Both Sliema and Kaunas reached
the second qualifying round last season.
Good heart
Sliema will be without key midfield player Joe Brincat, who is
suspended, but Maltese Footballer of the Year Stefan Giglio and
captain Noel Turner have overcome recent injuries and coach Edward
Aquilina is cautiously optimistic of a positive result on the home
turf of the National Stadium in Ta’ Qali.
‘Give our all’
“The fact that we know so little about the Lithuanian champions
worries me,” he told uefa.com. “But I still believe that if we give
our all, as we have always done, we can repeat last year’s exploits
and go through to face Djurgården.”