Celtic have been drawn away to Riga FC or Tre Fiori in the third qualifying round of this season’s Europa League.
The Hoops are due to face either the Latvians or Sammarinese outfit in a one-legged tie on September 24th, after the draw was made in Nyon this afternoon.
Kuopion Palloseura/Slovan Bratislava, Riga/Tre Fiori, and Sileks/Drita were all potential opponents for the Hoops in this afternoon’s draw.
Celtic will find out for definite who they are up against after the second qualifying round ties that are scheduled to take place on September 17th, with Riga and Tre Fiori set to face each other.
The winners of the third qualifying round tie will then progress to the play-off round – the final stage of qualifying before the Europa League group stages.
The draw for the playoff round will take place on September 18th, meaning Celtic will know their potential playoff opponents before they’ve even played their third qualifying round match.
Celtic will go into the third qualifying stage as clear favourites. However, the same was said heading into the clash against Ferencvaros last week, who dumped Lennon’s side out of the Champions League qualifiers with a 2-1 win at Parkhead.
The match will once again be a one-legged shootout as mentioned previously. And that will be the same for whoever reaches the playoff stage. Throughout the full qualifying process in this season’s Europa League, there will be no second leg to fall back on.
Having the match away from home also isn’t ideal, but Celtic will be fancied favourably against either side. The Hoops have never faced a side from Latvia or San Marino in the past.
Supporters have already been flying in with their reactions to the draw. Here’s a look at some of the opinons:
https://twitter.com/Kieran_Celtic/status/1300757863149842433
https://twitter.com/shaunreid88/status/1300757675236569088
https://twitter.com/LewisLaird01/status/1300758134986878976
https://twitter.com/aidenholley9/status/1300756819191701506
https://twitter.com/_mrc67/status/1300758902519234561
https://twitter.com/seanmarkus_67/status/1300759873093857286
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