Niels Frederiksen regrets Champions League draw against AGF

Niels Frederiksen, the Danish head coach of Polish champions Lech Poznań, expressed his disappointment with the draw for the second round of Champions League qualifying, which paired his team against Danish club AGF.

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I believe neither AGF nor we are particularly enthusiastic about meeting each other.

Frederiksen admitted he would have preferred to face other opponents, such as Klaksvik from the Faroe Islands, Riga FC from Latvia, or Kairat Almaty from Kazakhstan. He believes neither AGF nor Lech Poznań are particularly enthusiastic about facing each other. "When you look at who we could meet, there were other teams I would have preferred. I consider AGF and the Swedish champions from Mjällby as the strongest of the unseeded teams," Frederiksen told Bold.

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When you look at, who we could meet, there were other teams I had preferred.

He anticipates two closely contested matches, describing them as "50-50 games" to determine who advances to the third qualifying round. Frederiksen noted that his familiarity with AGF could be an advantage when analyzing them, though he acknowledged that AGF likely knows Lech Poznań well too. Markus Uglebjerg, an assistant coach at AGF, previously served as an assistant under Frederiksen at Lech Poznań.

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I consider AGF and the Swedish champions from Mjällby as the strongest of the unseeded teams.

AGF will host the first leg of the tie on July 21 or 22, with the return match in Poland scheduled for the following week. Aarhus-based AGF must overcome Poznań and two other opponents in the qualifying stages to reach the lucrative Champions League group stage. Should AGF lose to Poznań, they will have another chance in the Europa League, with a potential further drop to the Conference League.

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It will be two 50-50 games about who will advance to the third qualifying round.