Today we see the first foray of Scottish teams into European competition as St. Johnstone head to Turkey to take on Eskişehirspor in the Europa League’s second qualifying round. The odds are not stacked in favour of the Perth Saints but they should take heart from an earlier result this week. The New Saints held out for a goalless draw against Helsingborg at Park Hall on Tuesday against similar odds so all hope is not yet lost. I saw the last fifteen minutes of the game on Channel 4’s Welsh channel S4C and was pleasantly surprised to see that English commentary was available. I wonder in BBC Alba will take note when they cover Brechin City against Rangers in the Challenge Cup?
Should St. Johnstone manage to get through the round they will enter the third qualifying round, again unseeded, and so will find themselves in the same position as Dundee United. In this round there are numerous opponents that would certainly seal either team’s fate but would undoubtedly lead to a sell out home game which would be very welcome in uncertain financial times. Liverpool, Inter, Athletic Bilbao (last year’s runners up) and Dynamo Moscow are among known seeded teams in this round.
Still events could also fall in their favour because the seeding is allocated based on the seeding in the previous round. For instance, the winner of Twente’s second round tie will be seeded in round 3 regardless of whether or not they win it meaning that should they lose to an unlikely upset by Finland’s Inter Turku, the complexion of the draw changes greatly. In fact more than half of the seeded places in the third qualifying round are distributed like this creating the chance that unseeded clubs could be drawn against clubs who are even further down the rankings.
UPDATE: SPLstats has done a rather good blog about Dundee United’s European campaign. This gives a bit more insight and detail and includes information on the draw group – of the teams I mentioned above, only Liverpool could be drawn against Dundee United and the winner of St. Johnstone’s tie avoid all of them but are now more likely to face meeting Marseille or Sparta Prague who are amongst the seeded teams in their draw group. As it transpires – neither could face the winner of Twente’s tie so my hypothetical was badly chosen!
Should St Johnstone survive again and Dundee United make it through their first tie they’ll join Hearts in the play off round. There is no danger of Hearts facing Spurs again (they enter at the group stage) but depending on seedings it could be English opposition again in the form of Newcastle. If any team can get past this stage they are in the Europa League proper and guaranteed three more home ties and European football up until December. Of course in this round more big teams enter including those who have been knocked out of the Champions League third qualifying round (where Celtic and Motherwell start their campaigns).
The Champions League is of some more importance than usual this season. For one, I will agree with Craig Burley on one point, Celtic will be flying the flag for Scotland in Europe as our only “big team” remaining. Secondly, Scotland’s coefficient has dropped such that there won’t be a Champions League place for the second placed team in the SPL this year so Motherwell better make the most of it! Motherwell’s fate is the most certain due to the separation of champions and non-champions at this stage of the competition. They will face one of four opponents: Dynamo Kyiv, Panathinaikos, FC Copenhagen or Fenerbahçe. If they lose they will drop to the Europa League play off round and be one tie away from the group stage. If they win they enter the Champions League play off round and find themselves in the interesting position in European football where winning the tie puts them in the Champions League group stage and losing puts them in the Europa League group stage. So Motherwell have at least two ties ahead of them and as long as they win one, they’ll be progressing in Europe.
At this stage it’s impossible to say who Celtic will face as so much is unknown but as they are seeded in the third round draw for league champions.Given Maribor’s 4-1 first leg win they look certain to progress as an unseeded team meaning Celtic could face the team that put Rangers out of the Europa League last year. One team Celtic certainly won’t face is The New Saints. If they can go to Sweden and win they will take Helsingborg’s place as a seeded team in the third round.
Best of luck to all five teams. I wish them well and hope they can do something to improve Scotland’s standing in Europe and generate much needed revenue.
Always play to the whistle! 