Exciting "collision"
Mode now pits skiing against Champions League!
The third qualifying round of the Champions League will be drawn on Monday. It will be exciting for Salzburg's Bulls, for whom a reunion with starting coach Jose Mourinho is possible. Champions Sturm have already qualified for the group stage of the top flight - where everything is new this year! It will also be extremely "exciting" from a sporting perspective at the end of January 2025.
The Champions League will start the 2024/25 season with a new format. There will no longer be a traditional group stage - the top flight will have a completely different look. Instead of the previous 32 teams, there will be 36 - and they will all be listed in a large table. Each club has eight group matches against eight different opponents, with the last two games not being played until the end of January 2025. A very curious fact: the eighth matchday, which may also be decisive for top-flight starters Sturm, is 29 January. On the same evening, the best slalom racers in the world will race down the Planai slope in Schladming in the classic Nightrace.
In the end, the top eight of the 36-team table will make it through to the last 16, with the teams in ninth to 24th place in a play-off to determine the other round of 16 finalists. There is no longer a transfer from the Champions League to the Europa League in this format.
Trembling for the Vikings
While the draw for the third qualifying round gets serious for Sturm's closest rivals Salzburg today (possible opponents are Lugano, Twente, Saint-Gilloise, Dynamo Kiev, Partizan Belgrade and Fenerbahce), the fixed starter from Graz can sit back and relax. Ahead of Tuesday's dress rehearsal against Porto in the Merkur Arena (7 p.m./live on krone.TV), the focus will be on the fitness of striker Seedy Jatta.
An MRI check on Monday should provide clarity about the knee injury he sustained in the 2-2 draw against Monaco. If it's another long break, the drama will continue for the Viking. Since his arrival in August 2023, the 21-year-old Norwegian has spent 129 days in hospital following a fractured lumbar vertebra, torn muscle fibers and syndesmosis ligament.
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