Benfica, Sporting de Braga and Rio Ave meet European opponents
Benfica, who’s in the Champions League, and Sporting de Braga and Rio Ave, in the Europa League, meet today their opponents in the third qualifying round in a draw scheduled for Nyon in Switzerland.
The ‘incarnate’ lineup, which attempts to join national champion FC Porto in the group stage, has four possible opponents,Fenerbahçe from Turky,Spartak Moscow from Russia, Standard Liege from Belgium and the Czechs Prague Slavia.
Serie A on the ‘league road’, along with the Ukrainians of Dinamo Kiev and also the winners of the qualifiers between PAOK and Basel and between Ajax and Sturm Graz, the set of Rui Vitoria will play in the third qualifying round on August 7th/8th and 14th.
In the qualifiers, Benfica, second in the Portuguese League in 2017/18, heads to the play-off, whose draw is scheduled for August 6th, with matches at 21th or 22th (first leg) and 28th or 29th (Monday).
With regard to the European League, Sporting de Braga, fourth in the last Portuguese championship, knows the adversary in the third qualifying round, which will be played on August 9th and 16th.
Rio Ave will also participate in the draw, but will only play in this phase if they overcome Jagiellonia Bialystok in the second qualifying round, which starts in Poland on Thursday and ends in Vila do Conde on August 2nd.
To reach the group stage, the two Portuguese clubs will still have to overcome the play-offs on August 23th and 30th, the latter being the day of the draw of the Champions League group stage. The Europa League is the following day.
