Draw in Nyon

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Rapids Louis Schaub

(Bild: GEPA pictures)

The die is cast: Rapid will face Borac Banja Luka in the Conference League round of 16. That was the result of the draw in Nyon.

Borac currently occupy second place in the Bosnian championship. The first leg will take place away from home on March 6, the second leg on March 13 in Hütteldorf. The Green-Whites finished the league phase as the fourth-best team and were therefore seeded number four for the knockout phase.

Semi-final clash with Chelsea?
Rapid would face the winner of the Cypriot-Swedish duel between Paphos FC and Djurgardens in the quarter-finals, while top favorites Chelsea could be their opponents in the semi-finals.

The Viennese could only meet the teams in the other half of the table in the final. The best-known names there are Betis Sevilla (against Vitoria Guimaraes in the round of 16) and AC Fiorentina (Panathinaikos Athens). FC Lugano will also face NK Celje from Slovenia and Polish representative Jagiellonia Bialystok will meet Cercle Brugge with ex-Rapid coach Ferdinand Feldhofer.

Klauß: "Unpleasant team"
 His successor Robert Klauß sent an observer to the 0-0 draw between Olimpija Ljubljana and Borac on Thursday, which gave the Bosnians promotion thanks to a 1-0 aggregate score. "A very unpleasant team," said the German, for whom the two round of 16 games are not yet a priority. "Our analysts already know everything, I haven't prepared yet. I only have LASK (Sunday's opponents) on my mind," explained Klauß.

Robert Klauß

(Bild: GEPA)

The 31-year-old Salzburg-born Stefan Savic, who trained at Red Bull and also played briefly for LASK in 2015, has been under contract with Borac since last summer. Ex-Rapidler Srdan Grahovac and former WSG Tirol professional Sandi Ogrinec also appear in the Borac squad. In the fall, the club from Bosnia's second-largest city won 2:1 at home against LASK in the league phase.

Riots
There were riots during the promotion match against Ljubljana, which is why it cannot be ruled out that Borac will soon be fined by UEFA. Rapid are on probation anyway after the incidents against FC Copenhagen in December. For this reason alone, it is probably not a disadvantage that the Green-White team did not draw their second possible opponent, Panathinaikos. The two clubs have a close fan friendship - if this had been celebrated with pyrotechnics in the stadium in March, there would have been trouble from UEFA.

Round of 16:
FC Copenhagen - Chelsea (1)
Molde FK (NOR) - Legia Warsaw (7)
Paphos FC (CYP) - Djurgardens IF (5)
Borac Banja Luka (BIH/Savic) - SK RAPID (4)
NK Celje (SLO) - FC Lugano (6)
Panathinaikos Athens - AC Fiorentina (3)
Jagiellonia Bialystok (POL) - Cercle Brugge (8/coach Feldhofer)
Vitoria Guimaraes - Betis Sevilla (2)

Quarterfinals:
VF1: Sevilla/Guimaraes - Bialystok/Bruges
VF2: Celje/Lugano - Panathinaikos/Fiorentina
VF3: Copenhagen/Chelsea - Molde/Warsaw
VF4: Paphos/Djurgardens - Borac/RAPID

Semifinals:
Winners VF1-VF2
Winners VF3-VF4