NYON: Celtic, the first British team to win the European Cup, have been paired against Icelandic side Stjarnan in the second qualifying round of the Champions League, after the draw in Nyon, Switzerland, on Monday.

The Scottish champions, who upset Inter Milan to win the tournament for the first time in 1967, will be expected to ease past the side from Garoabaer — “Garden City” in Icelandic — when they meet in a two-legged tie next month.

Ronny Deila’s men, who won the Scottish title for the fourth year running last season, welcome Stjarnan to Celtic Park for the first leg on July 14 or 15 before travelling to Reykjavik for the second leg a week later (July 21 or 22).

Icelandic champions Stjarnan, who are featuring in the preliminary round for the first time in their history, are best known for their cult following on YouTube where their players post funny goal celebrations.

It’s less than three months until the main group stage draw (August 27), featuring Europe’s biggest clubs like 10-time winners Real Madrid, five-time champions Bayern Munich and holders Barcelona.

The winner between Celtic and Stjarnan will have to negotiate two further rounds to enter the group stage, with teams like Monaco — last year’s surprise quarter-finalists — possible opponents in the third qualifying round.

The final hurdle is the play-off round, which contains teams such as three-time winners Manchester United and two-time runners-up Valencia. Bundesliga side Bayer Leverkusen and Serie A club Lazio are among the other possible opponents in that round.

UEFA also drew four first-round qualifying pairings which are played between June 30 and July 8.

Celtic are attempting to make up for last season’s embarrassing performance when they suffered the indignity of twice being knocked out of the competition.

They lost 6-1 on aggregate to Legia Warsaw in the third qualifying round but were reprieved after the Polish side fielded an ineligible player in the second leg. After being reinstated, Celtic lost to Slovenian side NK Maribor in the playoff round.

Stjarnan have played Scottish opposition before — beating Motherwell 5-4 on aggregate in the second qualifying round of the Europa League last season as they progressed through three rounds of qualifiers before losing 9-0 on aggregate to Inter Milan.

Stjarnan won their first Icelandic league title in astonishing style in October, converting a stoppage-time penalty in their final game to beat FH 2-1 and finish one point ahead of their opponents.

The club once produced a bizarre goal celebration known as ‘the fish’ where the scorer would throw an imaginary fishing line and one of his team mates would pretend to be reeled in.

Although Stjarnan gained millions of YouTube hits for their antics, they have toned down the celebrations in the last two seasons.

Steaua Bucharest, the only other former winners in the draw for the first two qualifying rounds, face Slovak champions Trencin, with the first leg away.

Serbian champions Partizan Belgrade were paired with Georgia’s Dila Gori and Bulgaria’s Ludogorets Razgrad, who played in the group stage last season, play Moldova’s champions Milsami Orhei.

Malmo were paired with Zalgiris of Lithuania and another Champions League regulars, Dinamo Zagreb, are away first against Fola Esch of Luxembourg.

Published in Dawn, June 23rd, 2015

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