Brøndby among determined dozen

Friday draw
Brøndby travel to Georgian champions FC Dinamo Tbilisi in one of six first-leg ties, and Laudrup would love his team to be sitting on a comfortable first-leg advantage when the draw for the third and final qualifying round is made in Nyon, Switzerland on Friday.

Past frustrations
Laudrup was part of the dazzling Barcelona side that clinched glory against UC Sampdoria at Wembley in 1992 and, since taking the helm at Brøndby in 2002, has slowly set about restoring past glories to one of his former clubs. The Danish team have not reached the Champions League group stage since 1998/99, when they were drawn with Barça and both eventual finalists, Manchester United FC and FC Bayern München, in a very tough pool.

Skoubo sensation
Brøndby's last attempt at reaching the group stage came just weeks into Laudrup's reign and ended in a 4-2 aggregate defeat by Scandinavian neighbours Rosenborg BK of Norway. The coach is hoping for better this time, especially with striker Morten Skoubo in great form. Two games into the new season, the 25-year-old has already scored three goals to lift Brøndby joint-top of the Danish Superleague.

Odikadze suspended
Dinamo overcame FC Levadia Tallinn 2-1 on aggregate to book their date with the Danish champions but their pedigree in this competition is unspectacular. Having lost against Albanian outfit KF Tirana at the first hurdle two years ago, and CSF Zimbru Chisinau at the same stage the time before that, they will be desperate to make the most of home advantage on Tuesday, despite the absence of midfielder David Odikadze through suspension.

Scandinavian derby
Cypriot champions Anorthosis Famagusta FC's reward for progressing to the second qualifying round by beating Belarussian title-holders FC Dinamo Minsk is a meeting with Trabzonspor, the Turkish side who missed out on their first Turkish title since 1983/84 by just three points last term. They play the first leg in Cyprus while Vålerenga IF welcome FC Haka to Norway. The Finnish team did well to eliminate FC Pyunik by the odd goal in five to earn a tie with last season's Norwegian runners-up.

Goal machines
Taking centre stage, however, will be holders Liverpool FC who face FBK Kaunas in Lithuania. Both clubs enjoyed six-goal winning margins in the first qualifying round, against Total Network Solutions FC and HB Tórshavn respectively, although England midfielder Steven Gerrard is considered more likely to add to his five goals so far than Kaunas's Andrius Velicka is to his three.

Chertoganov absent
Elsewhere, FC Dynamo Kyiv begin their campaign at home against FC Thun and RSC Anderlecht entertain PFC Neftchi, the Azerbaijani side who will be missing Olexandr Chertoganov following his red card in the second leg of their first qualifying round victory against FH Hafnarfjördur, with the promise of prolonged European football at stake for everybody involved.