If local champions Valletta FC qualify for the third round, they will face either Linfield of Northern Ireland or BATE Borisov of Belarus, following yesterday’s draws.

Of course, Valletta have to reverse a 2-3 deficit suffered last Tuesday in their first leg clash at the Hibs Ground against Ekranas, and it will not be easy to do that in the away game next week.

In the first leg earlier this week, Linfield and BATE Borisov drew 1-1.

The other draws resulted as follows:

Third qualifying round

First leg 26-27 July; Second leg 2-3 August

League route

Standard Liege (Belgium) vs. FC Zurich (Switzerland)

FC Twente (Netherlands) vs. Vaslui (Romania)

Benfica (Portugal) vs. Trabzonspor (Turkey)

Dynamo Kyiv (Ukraine) vs. Rubin Kazan (Russia)

Odense (Denmark) vs. Panathinaikos (Greece)

Champions route

Mogren (Montenegro) or Litex Lovech (Bulgaria) vs. Skonto Riga (Latvia) or Wisla Krakow (Poland)

Maccabi Haifa (Israel) or Borac Banja Luka (Bosnia-Herzegovina) vs. Maribor (Slovenia) or Dudelange (Luxembourg)

HJK Helsinki (Finland) or Bangor City (Wales) vs Dinamo Zagreb (Croatia) or Neftci (Azerbaijan)

Skenderbeu (Albania) or APOEL (Cyprus) vs. Slovan Bratislava (Slovakia) or Tobol Kostanay (Kazakhstan)

FC Copenhagen (Denmark) vs. Shamrock Rovers (Ireland) or Flora Tallinn (Estonia)

Genk (Belgium) vs. Partizan (Serbia) or Skendija (Macedonia)

Rosenborg (Norway) or Breidablik (Iceland) vs. Pyunik (Armenia) or Viktoria Plzen (Czech Republic)

Zestafoni (Georgia) or Dacia Chisinau (Moldova) vs. Sturm Graz (Austria) or Videoton (Hungary)

Valletta (Malta) or Ekranas (Lithuania) vs. Linfield (Northern Ireland) or BATE Borisov (Belarus)

Rangers (Scotland) vs. Malmo (Sweden) or Torshavn (Faeroe Islands)