Liverpool have drawn Standard Liege.

Draw in full :

Anorthosis/Rapid Vienna v Olympiakos
Vitoria Guimaraes v IFK Gothenburg/Basel
Shakhtar Donetsk v Domzale/Dinamo Zagreb
Schalke 04 v Atletico Madrid
Aalborg/Modrica v Rangers/Kaunas
Barcelona v Beitar Jerusalem/Wisla Krakow
Levski Sofia v Anderlecht/BATE
Standard Liege v Liverpool
Inter Baku/Partizan v Fenerbahce/MTK Budapest
FC Twente v Arsenal
Spartak Moscow v Drogheda/Dinamo Kiev
Juventus v Tampere/Artmedia
SK Brann/Ventspils v Marseille
Fiorentina v Slavia Prague
Galatasaray v Steaua Bucharest
Panathinaikos/Dinamo Tbilisi v Sheriff Tiraspol/Sparta Prague

Schalke v Atletico must be the tie of the round, although Anorthosis v Olympiakos would be a fun one to go to, if Anorthosis hold onto their first leg lead. Spartak Moscow v Dinamo Kiev could be a belter, too. And Twente are Steve "Umbrella Man" McClaren's new outfit, aren't they?

What was wrong with this thread then?

Was it a typical BRC attitude of 'the competition only starts when we are in the hat'?

<winkything>

That reminds me of a really good call to Baker & Kelly, years ago, from someone who, with a mate, had pretended to be scouts from Standard Liege (with the use of some fake headed notepaper and a fax machine), and managed to blag their way into countless Premier League matches, with VIP treatment, the works.

A very lucky draw for Rangers. It's disappointing that Schalke and Atletico got paired - I'd liked both to have qualified. And the Spartak-Dynamo tie should indeed be a cracker.

Looking forward to seeing what sort of reception Steve McClaren gets at the Emirates.

Good to see Artmedia back. Didn't they embarrass Chelsea a few years ago, or something?

Celtic.

And they need to get past BombANero's boys first.

I went to an Aalborg qualifier in Denmark back in the mid 90s- it was the day after Crusaders played Silkeborg. The Danes lost to Dynamo Kiev but qualified anyway when their opponents were kicked out for bribing the ref.

Aab is quite pleasant, worth a visit.

No doubt you sampled the local akavits. It is quite a lovely town.

No complaints for Barca or the Viola. The Schalke/Atleti matchup is very unfortunate. Galatasaray/Steaua should also be interesting, and gives ad hoc a reasonable basis for believing that his betes noires will go out.

I quaffed more than a few beers with some Israeli Kiev fans. But none of the hard stuff. Had a bad experience with slivovic in my younger days.

Jorge Porbillas wrote:

QUOTE:
What was wrong with this thread then?

Was it a typical BRC attitude of 'the competition only starts when we are in the hat'?

<winkything>

Maybe it's got something to do with the way you started that thread.

Should you ever make it down here, I'll be sure to give you some of our homebrew from Slovenija. It comes in "male" and "female" versions.

I'm quite looking forward to returning there in a few weeks, as I can count on starting every morning with a shot of slivovic and some Turkish coffee. Not at all bad, as long as you don't need to operate heavy machinery.

ursus arctos wrote:

QUOTE:
Celtic.

And they need to get past BombANero's boys first.

I think they already have, TamU were forced to play a 34 year old centre back who has only ever played for Tampere clubs, and is less mobile than continental drift. Artmedia knew exactly what to do and did it well, Pospech scored a peach of a goal right after TamU's equaliser and it was game up after that. TamU are now just a good Finnish side, whereas last year they were miles ahead of everyone in the country.

My esteemed colleagues in the Helsinki press are already wetting themselves about how much better Antti Muurinen's HJK are going to do in next year's CL, even though they're still 2 points off Inter Turku's lead. And Inter have just signed two strikers - their manager Job Dragtsma has very good contacts pretty much everywhere but especially with Heerenveen, so they could well put on another spurt now. i really really hope they do, I can't stand HJK.

bit of a rant there, sorry about that. Conclusion is that Artmedia (Petrzelka now, not Bratislava) could well trouble Juve because they're a big, physical side who also break quickly and with pace. the second leg will be a much better indication, as the elderly defender won't be playing for TamU then.

If they somehow manage to turn it around, it will provide the old-timers with a chance to reminisce about Haka running Juventus close in the Cup Winner's Cup in 83-84. I was at the leg in the Communale.

Jimmy Bignutz wrote:

QUOTE:
Maybe it's got something to do with the way you started that thread.

Ah yes, big boys ...