23 July 2018•Update: 23 July 2018
By Fatih Erel
NYON, Switzerland
Ahead of their match next month with Portugal's Benfica in the UEFA Champions League, Turkey's Fenerbahce are looking ahead to a challenging game.
At the draw ceremony at UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland on Monday, Fenerbahce were paired with Benfica in the UEFA Champions League third qualifying round.
Speaking in Nyon about the draw, Fenerbahce Sporting Director Damien Comolli told Anadolu Agency: "Everybody would say it’s a difficult draw. They are very good team with great fans and very nice stadiums. They lost the title to Porto at the very end of the last games [in April]. So they could have also won Portugal’s league."
He added: "For me, the most important thing is to play the second game at home. Because l know how much of a difference our fans can make when we play at home."
"l also know Benfica aren’t happy to play against us. It will be a competitive face off between two good teams," he said after meeting with Benfica representatives at the draw ceremony.
The first matches will be played on Aug. 7-8, with second-leg matches following on Aug. 14-15.
The last time the two were paired against each other was back in the 2012-2013 UEFA Europa League semifinals, when Benfica eliminated Fenerbahce to advance to the finals with scores of 0-1 and 3-1.
