Tottenham Hotspur’s last step toward their first Champions League appearance was paved by luck on Friday, with Harry Redknapp’s team drawing Swiss club Young Boys in the play-off (play-in) round.
UEFA Champions League: Tottenham, Zenit St. Peterburg Get Fortunate Play-Off Round Draws
The Swiss side was considered the easiest of the five possible teams Spurs could have faced, with Sampdoria and Sporting Club Braga averted possibilities.
Sampdoria was drawn against Germany’s third-place team Werder Bremen in a Champions League-caliber match. Braga will face Spain’s fourth-place team, Sevilla, another match drawn into the League Path of the Champions League playoffs.
UEFA seperates the 20 teams still playing their way into Champions League into league winners and non-league winners. The league winners are paired-off against each other in the Champions Path, while the ten other clubs occupy the Non-Champions Path pool.
The other two ties drawn from the Non-Champions Path feature Russian leaders Zenit St. Petersburg against French side Auxerre while Ukraine’s Dynamo Kiev is paired with Dutch power Ajax.
The first legs of the playoff ties will take place on August 17 and 18. The second legs will be on the 24th and 25th. Winners advance into group play.
In the Champions Path, Austria’s Salzburg will face Israel’s Hapoel Tel-Aviv, Norway’s Rosenborg’s paired with Denmark’s Copenhagen, Switzerland’s Basel takes on Moldova’s FC Sheriff, Czech power Sparta Prague drew Slovak club MSK Zilina, while Serbia’s Partizan Belgrade plays Belgium’s Anderlecht.
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