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The draw for the Champions League third qualifying round for the coming season has been made and there are a few interesting ties to look forward to.

Arsenal will play either Dinamo Zagreb from Croatia, or Ekranas from Lithuania. Ekranas are already 4-1 down from the first leg, so it’s most probably going to be Dinamo Zagreb. Not the easiest tie, but not one of the tough ones either.

Liverpool, however, have been handed a troublesome draw with Maccabi Haifa. Everyone knows about the critical situation in the Middle East right now, and Haifa being one of the frontline cities in the current conflict, I’m sure UEFA will move the Haifa leg to a neutral venue, most likely in Bulgaria. However, Israeli teams have hardly been easy pickings for English opposition, one only needs to jog down memory lane to Chelsea’s UEFA cup tie in Haifa. They lost 2-0.

There are some other interesting possibities as well. Tiny Cork City COULD end up playing AC Milan, depending on the result of their current second round tie and the verdict of the UEFA panel that’s sitting to discuss the matter of Milan’s participation in the Champions League. Things are still unsure on that front, expect a verdict by the 2nd of August.

The plum ties, though, are Hamburg v Osasuna and FK Metalurgs/Dynamo Kiev v Fenerbahce/Torshavn. I don’t expect the minnows in the latter tie to go through, so it looks like Kiev v Fenerbahce, both teams have Champions League experience and are capable of playing some good football. Look out for these two ties.

Here is the complete 3rd round draw:

• Sheriff Tiraspol/Spartak Moscow v Liberec
• Shakhtar Donetsk v FH Hafnarfjordur/Legia Warsaw
• FC Zurich/SV Red Bull Salzburg v Valencia
• Levski Sofia/Sioni Bolnisi v Chievo
• Hearts/Siroki Brijeg v AEK Athens
• CSKA Moscow v Djurgardens IF/SCP Ruzomberok
• AC Milan v Cork/Crvena Zvezda
• Galatasaray v Mlada Boleslav/Valerenga
• Standard Liege v HIT Gorica/Steaua Bucuresti
• Austria Magna v Benfica
• FK Ekranas/Dinamo Zagreb v Arsenal
• FC Copenhagen/MyPa v Ajax
• Hamburg v Osasuna
• FK Metalurgs/Dynamo Kiev v Fenerbahce/B36 Torshavn
• Liverpool v Maccabi Haifa
• Lille v Debrecen/Rabotnicki Kometal