Decent Champions League draw for Dundalk

If Dundalk can overcome BATE Borisov on Wednesday and advance to the third qualifying round of the Champions League they will face a trip to either Wales or Hungary.

Dundalk go into next week’s second leg tie knowing a 1-0 win would be enough to see them progress, after picking up a crucial away goal in their 2-1 defeat in Belarus.

Next up then for Stephen Kenny’s team would be the winners of the second round meeting of The New Saints and Videoton.

Hungarian side Videoton are 1-0 up after the first leg in Wales earlier this week, and whoever progresses will have home advantage in the next round.

Videoton’s greatest achievement came in reaching the 1984/85 Uefa Cup final against Real Madrid, having beaten Manchester United along the way.

In 2010 The New Saints had a 4-1 aggregate win over Bohemians in the Champions League second qualifying round.

Past all that and Dundalk would be facing a play-off to reach the group stages of Europe’s elite club competition - that would be against one of Manchester United, Valencia, Bayer Leverkusen, Sporting CP and Lazio.

Celtic face a trip to Azerbaijan or Montenegro - after Ronny Deila's men were drawn to play Qarabag or Rudar Pljevlja in the third qualifying round, if they beat Stjarnan in the second round.

Qarabag drew 0-0 at home to Rudar in Azerbaijan in the first leg. Celtic beat Stjarnan 2-0 at home on Wednesday and travel to Iceland for the second leg next Wednesday.

Celtic were drawn out first for the third round, which takes place on July 28-29th and August 4-5th.

Meanwhile both UCD and Shamrock Rovers have been handed tough draws for the third qualifying round of the Europa League.

A last minute goal seen UCD lose 1-0 away to Slovan Bratislava on Thursday night but if they can turn that around at the Bowl next week they’ll face Russian side FC Krasnodar in the next round.

Shamrock Rovers’ 2-0 loss to Odds Ballklubb in Tallaght gives them an uphill challenge, but if they can do the business in Norway Pat Fenlon’s side will play either Swedish side Elfborg or Randers from Denmark. That tie remains scoreless after the first leg.

The Europa League third round will take place on July 30th and August 6th.

Champions League third round Draw

Panathinaikos v Club Brugge

Young Boys v Monaco

CSKA Moscow v Sparta Prague

Rapid Vienna v Ajax

Fenerbahce v Shakhtar Donetsk

FK Sarajevo/Lech Poznan v Basel

Ludogorets/Milsami v Skenderbeu/Crusaders

FK Ventspils/HJK Helsinki v Maribor/Astana

Celtic/Stjarnan v FK Karabakh/Rudar Pljevlja

AS Trencin/Steaua Bucuresti v Partizan Belgrade/Dila Gori

FC Midtjylland/Lincoln Red Imps v Apoel Nicosia/Vardar

Hibernians/Maccabi Tel-Aviv v Plzen

Dinamo Zagreb/CS Fola Esch v Molde/Pyunik

The New Saints FC/Videoton FC v BATE/Dundalk

SV Red Bull Salzburg v Malmo FF/FK Zalgaris