{"id":8725,"date":"2019-08-05T07:39:23","date_gmt":"2019-08-05T11:39:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/?p=8725"},"modified":"2019-08-07T12:40:22","modified_gmt":"2019-08-07T16:40:22","slug":"celtic-handed-tough-champions-league-qualifying-path","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/?p=8725","title":{"rendered":"Celtic Handed Tough Champions League Qualifying Path"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2.44291286.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"337\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-8726\" srcset=\"https:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2.44291286.jpg 600w, https:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2.44291286-300x169.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/>Celtic have been handed one of the toughest paths possible if they are to secure their return to the Champions League group stages.<\/p>\n<p>If Neil Lennon\u2019s men beat CFR Cluj over two legs in the third qualifying round, they will face Czech champions Slavia Prague next.<\/p>\n<p>The potential clash with last year\u2019s Europa League quarter-finalists was one they will have wanted to avoid at Monday\u2019s draw in Nyon.<\/p>\n<p>Slavia pushed Chelsea close in two games last year, losing 1-0 at home before a 4-3 defeat at Stamford Bridge saw them bow out 5-3 on aggregate.<\/p>\n<p>For the time being Celtic\u2019s minds are firmly focused on Cluj, who they face in the first leg in Romania on Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p>If Celtic overcome Cluj, they will be at least guarantee a place in the Europa League group stages should they be defeated by Slavia.<\/p>\n<p>If last year\u2019s semi-finalists Ajax overcome PAOK Salonika, they will face either Apoel of Cyprus or Qarabag of Azerbaijan.<\/p>\n<div class=\"sharedaddy sd-sharing-enabled\"><div class=\"robots-nocontent sd-block sd-social sd-social-icon sd-sharing\"><h3 class=\"sd-title\">Share this:<\/h3><div class=\"sd-content\"><ul><li class=\"share-facebook\"><a rel=\"nofollow\" data-shared=\"sharing-facebook-8725\" class=\"share-facebook sd-button share-icon no-text\" href=\"https:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/?p=8725&amp;share=facebook\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to share on Facebook\"><span><\/span><span class=\"sharing-screen-reader-text\">Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-twitter\"><a rel=\"nofollow\" data-shared=\"sharing-twitter-8725\" class=\"share-twitter sd-button share-icon no-text\" href=\"https:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/?p=8725&amp;share=twitter\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to share on Twitter\"><span><\/span><span class=\"sharing-screen-reader-text\">Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-google-plus-1\"><a rel=\"nofollow\" data-shared=\"sharing-google-8725\" class=\"share-google-plus-1 sd-button share-icon no-text\" href=\"https:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/?p=8725&amp;share=google-plus-1\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to share on Google+\"><span><\/span><span class=\"sharing-screen-reader-text\">Click to share on Google+ (Opens in new window)<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-print\"><a rel=\"nofollow\" data-shared=\"\" class=\"share-print sd-button share-icon no-text\" href=\"https:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/?p=8725\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to print\"><span><\/span><span class=\"sharing-screen-reader-text\">Click to print (Opens in new window)<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-end\"><\/li><\/ul><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Celtic have been handed one of the toughest paths possible if they are to secure their return to the Champions League group stages. If Neil Lennon\u2019s men beat CFR Cluj over two legs in the third qualifying round, they will&#8230;<\/p>\n<div class=\"sharedaddy sd-sharing-enabled\"><div class=\"robots-nocontent sd-block sd-social sd-social-icon sd-sharing\"><h3 class=\"sd-title\">Share this:<\/h3><div class=\"sd-content\"><ul><li class=\"share-facebook\"><a rel=\"nofollow\" data-shared=\"sharing-facebook-8725\" class=\"share-facebook sd-button share-icon no-text\" href=\"https:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/?p=8725&amp;share=facebook\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to share on Facebook\"><span><\/span><span class=\"sharing-screen-reader-text\">Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-twitter\"><a rel=\"nofollow\" data-shared=\"sharing-twitter-8725\" class=\"share-twitter sd-button share-icon no-text\" href=\"https:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/?p=8725&amp;share=twitter\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to share on Twitter\"><span><\/span><span class=\"sharing-screen-reader-text\">Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-google-plus-1\"><a rel=\"nofollow\" data-shared=\"sharing-google-8725\" class=\"share-google-plus-1 sd-button share-icon no-text\" href=\"https:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/?p=8725&amp;share=google-plus-1\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to share on Google+\"><span><\/span><span class=\"sharing-screen-reader-text\">Click to share on Google+ (Opens in new window)<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-print\"><a rel=\"nofollow\" data-shared=\"\" class=\"share-print sd-button share-icon no-text\" href=\"https:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/?p=8725\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Click to print\"><span><\/span><span class=\"sharing-screen-reader-text\">Click to print (Opens in new window)<\/span><\/a><\/li><li class=\"share-end\"><\/li><\/ul><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8726,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11,4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8725"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8725"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8725\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8727,"href":"https:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8725\/revisions\/8727"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8726"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8725"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8725"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8725"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}