Three teams qualified for the UCL through the playoffs: Kairat Almaty, Pafos, and Qaraba?, which are quite unfamiliar to me. But they managed to qualify, so I think they are indeed great. This means that they deserve their place in the UCL. But I hope they don't just become a source of points for the big teams that are regulars in the UCL. Here is a list of the opponents for these three teams.
| Kairat Almaty | - Real Madrid
- Inter Milan
- Club Brugge
- Arsenal
- Olympiakos
- Sporting CP
- Pafos
- Copenhagen
|
| Pafos | - Bayern München
- Chelsea
- Villarreal
- Juventus
- Slavia Praha
- Olympiakos
- Monaco
- Kairat Almaty
|
| Qaraba? | - Napoli
- Athletic Club Bilbao
- Chelsea
- Liverpool
- Eintracht Frankfurt
- Benfica
- Ajax
- Copenhagen
|
What do you think? I think the chances of passing the preliminary round are very slim and seem impossible.
Pafos, Kairat, and Qarabag have indeed worked hard to qualify for this round. However, the real challenge lies in the fact that these three teams will be competing against strong teams. All teams will fight hard to win. It won't be easy for Pafos, Qarabag, and Kairat to win against teams that have already qualified for this round. These three teams are indeed strong, and they can certainly beat strong teams, as football is always full of surprises.
Kairat will certainly face Sporting in the Champions League, and I think Kairat will have a tough time winning. I think Benfica will win against Qarabag, and I think Pafos will win against Olympiakos. I see Pafos as having good spirit and attack. Qualifying for this stage will undoubtedly boost their mentality, and Olympiakos will need to be wary. So, in my opinion, Pafos will win in the Pafos vs. Olympiakos match. Now, of course, we'll see whether they can perform better or not.
However, I also seem to share your opinion that it won't be easy for those three teams to advance to the qualifying rounds, but there's certainly potential for them to perform better and surprise us all.
These teams really struggled to qualify, so I strongly doubt that they will be able to win against very strong teams, even if sometimes these things happen and they actually manage to beat them, it would be a fairy tale among all the teams that convince me the most is Olympiakos who I think will do better than everyone else.