Champions League, early rounds

Day -694. WorldCup2018

Tired of politics, more football needed. The simple act of two teams trying to score more goals than each other is so much easier to handle than figuring out what Fifa are going to do about Vitaly Mutko and the Russian problem. It's also to grasp then Fifa not admitting that there is a problem. Football on the pitch is so much more refreshing than boardroom political deals that we only hear half of anyway. So, scoff as I may, having Champions League and Europa league football almost all year round comes as a welcome distraction in the middle of summer.

Yesterday Valletta were oh-so-near to an upset win over Red Star Belgrade. Up 1-0 in both legs, they succumbed to late goals in both matches. Malta's star striker of a few years ago, former Manchester United destroyer, Michael Mifsud was close to leading the Maltese champions into uncharted, never seen before Champions league territory. But, alas, Michael may be past his prime now and a shot at playing with the European big boys may be gone now.

Today, Celtic, cantered (yes, cantered) to a 3-0 win against Lincoln Red Imps. It was expected and, by all accounts, could have been a lot more. However, as easy as it was, it will not take away from Lincoln's incredible 1-0 in the first leg. Celtic also cantered in that one while the Gibraltans couldn't believe their luck and galloped past them. Yes, it's over two legs but Lincoln will always have that one-off win and Celtic will have that most embarrassing of defeats in their history books.

Now if you're looking for a story of an amazing comeback, twice, I could give you Olimpija Ljubljana of Slovenia. I could, but I can't because twice their amazing comeback was not quite completed. Last week they were 4-0 down at home after 32 minutes to Trenčín of Slovakia and came back to lose 4-3. Today, Trenčín were winning 2-0 after 20 minutes and Olimpija almost did the incredible, winning 3-2 but missing out by not scoring one more goal. I wonder how their coach is going to coach them out of these slow starts.

And, finally, after Iceland's heroics at Euro 2016, it's all over for their champions. They lost on away goals to the Irish champions, Dundalk, playing in the Champions League for the first time. While it may be disappointing for many neutrals and new found fans of Icelandic football it is further evidence of Iceland's successful system: all their best players go abroad to play in more competitive leagues.