Football: Liverpool face Rabotnicki or Mika in 2nd tier competition
After a dismal performance and a seventh place finish in the Premier League last season Liverpool are only left with a Europa League qualifier to represent the 18-time champions in the continent.
Had they finished just one point better they would have saved themselves from the disgrace of playing the qualifiers of Europe’s second tier competition. But since they didn’t, now they have to lock horns with the absolutely unknown outfits like Rabotnicki of Macedonia or Mika from Armenia.
The first legs of the tie will be played on the 29th of July at home while the return leg is scheduled for 5th of August.
The winners of the third qualifying round game in the Europa League will then face a two-legged play off to get into the group stages of this competition. Ironically, even last season Liverpool were knocked out of the Champion’s League at the first round and had to play the Europa League. Now for the second time running they will have to be content with playing in a 2nd tier competition.
Both of Liverpool’s possible opponents in the 3rd qualifying round have no pedigree in the continent and will be making their debuts on the continental front in the group stages of the Europa League.
Here is an attempt to get to know a little about these two teams.
One thing should be crystal clear, FK Rabotnicki of Macedonia has got no connection with the famous game character Dr Robotnik who plays the adversary of ‘Sonic the Hedgehog’ in a popular video game series of the same name. Armenian FC Mika, also, has got absolutely nothing to do with a famous POP artist that once famously sang ‘Grace Kelly’.
FK Rabotnicki are owned by Kometal, an iron manufacturing company and have a squad of 24 players out which 6 are from Brazil. The six also include a lanky, nimble-footed striker by the name of Wandier, who scored the solitary goal in the first round of the qualifying match against Mika.
Rabotnicki play their football in the Macedonian capital of Skopje, and are better known by three wonderful nick names – The Railway Boys, Club Hero and The romantics.
This is not the first time that they are facing an opponent from the Premier league as Bolton Wanderers also played them in the same competition back in 2007 but decided not to use the Spartan dressing rooms of the Gradski Stadium and opted to change at their hotels. Rabotniki have since moved from Gradski to the 36,000 capacity Philip Arena.
Rabotnicki also play in an all red strip that is just like Liverpool FC’s kit while they change to an all white kit when they play away from home. They finished runner up in the Prva League last season but have been champions in their country for a staggering 13 times, with their most recent triumph back in 2008 when they won the domestic double.
Interestingly the club also has a Facebook page that features the likes of Angelina Jolie, Mischa Barton, Pamela Anderson and Paris Hilton wearing the colours of Rabotnicki but the photos look doctored.
Liverpool’s other possible opponents are the Armenian side Mika, that hail from another European capital, Yerevan. One of the star attractions of the side is the Spanish no nonsense midfielder, Ulises Cano, who also has an uncanny knack of scoring some precious goals. In Vigen Hambardzumyan's they have a homegrown striker, whose name is worth a whopping 50 points in the game of scrabble.
Mika are not a very rich. Despite being a big club in a small country like Armenia they are one of the five professional sides in their capital, Yerevan, that play in the country’s top tier and have a stadium capacity of only 8000. Even Stockport County that plays in the fourth division of English football has a bigger stadium capacity of 10,000 at Edgeley Park in Greater Manchester.
Mika play in an all orange home strip just like the Dutch national side and change to an all white outfit when playing away from home. Mika have never won the league in their country but they have been in existence for only 11 years and have won the Armenian domestic Cup 5 times. They are playing in the third qualifying round of the Europa league, courtesy of a second place finish in the Armenian Premier League.
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