There is a new Sheriff in the Champions League draw, which was to be held after press time last night, with Moldova gaining its first entry in the group stage alongside rebel clubs who tried to launch their own elite breakaway.
Sheriff on Wednesday advanced easily with a 0-0 draw against Dinamo Zagreb after winning 3-0 in the home leg of their playoff last week.
The low-ranked club from Tiraspol in the breakaway region of Transnistria had to get through all four qualifying rounds to reach the groups.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Sheriff have won the Moldovan title in 19 of the past 21 seasons and have finally secured a place alongside Europe’s most storied teams.
The draw includes 10 of the 12 clubs whose owners in April tried to launch their own European Super League.
Moldova is typically described as the poorest country in Europe and Sheriff are to earn about 16 million euros (US$18.8 million) in guaranteed prize money from UEFA.
Photo: EPA-EFE
RB Salzburg returned to the group stage with a 4-2 aggregate score against Brondby, adding a 2-1 win in Denmark to victory by the same score in Austria last week.
Brenden Aaronson’s 10th-minute goal for Salzburg on Wednesday followed his 90th-minute winner in the first leg.
Shakhtar Donetsk edged past AS Monaco 3-2 on aggregate in extra-time thanks to a bizarre own-goal in the 114th minute.
The ball deflected off Monaco’s Ruben Aguilar and looped over the goalkeeper into the net to seal a 2-2 draw on the night in Ukraine after the Ligue 1 side led 2-0 in the first half.
UEFA has abolished the away-goals rule, which would have taken Monaco through after 90 minutes.
The group draw was to be held in Istanbul, Turkey, with Real Madrid, Barcelona and Juventus to play in this Champions League while still fighting tournament organizer UEFA in court for the right to organize a rival competition.
The European Court of Justice in Luxembourg is now considering the rebels’ case after they won a decision from a local judge in Madrid to stall UEFA from disciplining them.
Nine more clubs — including seven in the draw — renounced their Super League membership after agreeing to UEFA’s settlement terms, including paying fines and forfeiting some of their prize money for next season.
Still, the Super League clubs are good box office.
They include eight former European champions owning a combined 41 titles.
Seven-time winners AC Milan are to play their first Champions League game since March 2014 when the groups start on Sept. 14 and 15.
There are some unusually low-ranked teams among the top-seeded clubs. Top status is given to the Champions League and Europa League title-holders, plus winners of the six highest-ranked domestic leagues.
That means Ligue 1 champions Lille OSC are among the top seeds, despite being the lowest-ranked team of all 32 in the draw, just as they were two years ago when losing five of six games.
Europa League winners Villarreal and Portuguese champions Sporting also have relatively low rankings.
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