This Friday, the draw for the preliminary round of the Champions League group stage was held at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland. This draw will determine the last ten teams to qualify for the group stage. Five Colombian players will be competing in these series.
The Sporting Lisbon will host CSKA Moscow in Lisbon on August 18, in the first leg of the preliminary round of the Champions League. The team, which includes Colombian players Teo Gutierrez and Freddy Montero, will close the tie at the Arena Jimki on the 26th of the same month.
Another exciting match, in which a Colombian player will appear, will be between Manchester United and Club Brugge from Belgium, the club of forward José Heriberto Izquierdo. Lazio from Italy will also be in action in the Champions League preliminary round against Bayer Leverkusen.
Meanwhile, the Astana may have Colombian midfielder Roger Cañas against Apoel from Cyprus.
On the other hand, Valencia will face Monaco in the Champions League preliminary round that grants access to the group stage. The first leg will be on August 19 and the second leg on the 25th of the same month. If Valencia manages to qualify for the group stage, Spanish football will make history as it will have five representatives in the top continental competition. These are all the match-ups.
The fixtures are as follows:
Sporting (Teo Gutierrez and Freddy Montero) vs. CSKA Moscow
Astana (Roger Cañas) vs. Apoel
Skenderbeu vs. Dinamo Zagreb
Celtic vs. Malmoe
Basel vs. Maccabi Tel Aviv
BATE vs. Partizan
Lazio (Brayan Perea) vs. Bayer Leverkusen
Manchester United vs. Club Brugge (José Heriberto Izquierdo)
Rapid Vienna vs. Shakhtar
Valencia vs. Monaco