FCSB’s opponent in the 3rd preliminary round of the Champions League. The name of the team Gigi Becali will face if he qualifies against Maccabi Tel-Aviv has been revealed

On Tuesday, July 23, 2024, shortly after drawing with Maccabi Tel-Aviv at Steaua Stadium in Ghencea, score 1-1, FCSB also found out its opponent in the 3rd preliminary round of the Champions League.

If it gets past the group from Israel in the return scheduled in Budapest, on Wednesday, July 31, from 21:00, the formation trained by Elias Charalambous will face Sparta Prague.

There is no longer any doubt: Sparta Prague will be FCSB’s opponent in the 3rd preliminary round of the Champions League!

Tuesday, from 20:30, FCSB and Maccabi Tel-Aviv faced off at the Steaua Stadium in Ghencea, in the first leg of the 2nd preliminary round of the Champions League. The game between the two ended in a draw, score 1-1, so the team qualified in the 3rd preliminary round will be decided only in the second leg, scheduled for Wednesday, July 31, in Budapest.

Also on Tuesday, but from 22:00, the round match of the double Shamrock Rovers (Ireland) – Sparta Prague (Czech Republic) also took place, which will decide the opponent in the next round for FCSB or Maccabi Tel-Aviv.

And in Ireland, things were much clearer. Sparta Prague started anyway with the status of big favorite before this double, but the Czechs managed to cut the fate of the qualification to a large extent from the round match. With a lot valued at almost 72,000,000 euros, the footballers coached by the Danish Lars Friis (48 years old) started the game in Dublin strongly and from the first half they authoritatively dominated the game. Furthermore, in the 38th minute, the Serbian striker Veljko Birmancevic managed to unlock the scoreboard as well.

The game continued in the same direction for the last 45 minutes, and the final score of the match was established by defender Tomas Wiesner. In the 65th minute, he converted a pass from Jan Kuchta to make it 2-0 to Sparta Prague.

So, the Czechs took a very serious option in order to qualify in the 3rd preliminary round of the Champions League, and in the second leg, scheduled in Prague, they will have a much easier life than FCSB.

What Lars Friis said after the victory in Ireland

Sparta Prague recorded their first away success in the Champions League after a 14-year wait. At the end of the clash in Dublin, the Danish coach of the visitors expressed his delight at breaking that barrier:

“We promised on Monday at the press conference that we would rewrite history and here we are. After 14 years, Sparta won an away match in the Champions League qualifiers. It wasn’t easy, Shamrock is a team pushed from the back by the fans and playing away from them is not easy at all. But I would like to praise the guys for the work they have done. We played against a very well organized team. Their coach, Stephen Bradley, prepared them well, they gave us problems. We had some difficulty breaking through their compact defense.

But again, I’m happy with the way we kept our composure when we had the ball, except for the last 15 minutes. The experience from last season also helped us. It’s very hard to be upset at this point, even though I made a few errors due to lack of cooperation. Of course, I would have liked to have scored more goals, but overall it’s a good win,” said Lars Friis, quoted by Czech Newspapers.