Valletta were drawn to face Luxembourg champions F91 Dudelange as the draw of the first qualifying round of the Champions League was held at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon on Tuesday.

The Malta champions will be somewhat pleased with the draw as they were handed a somewhat more negotiable route to the second qualifying round draw of the Champions League after avoiding far tougher opponents in the form of Scottish champions Celtic, Qarabag, of Azerbaijan, and Sheriff Tiraspol, of Moldova.

Still Dudelange are expected to provide stiff opposition to the Citizens as the Luxembourg side have showed remarkable progress in European football in recent years.

In fact last season, after bowing from the first qualifying round of the Champions League to Vidi, of Hungary, they dropped to the Europa League and they managed to go all the way to the group stages of UEFA’s secondary competition knocking out the likes of Legia Warsaw of Poland and CFR Cluj, of Romania.

In the group stages, Dudelange played Serie A giants Milan, Olympiakos, of Greece, and La Liga side Real Betis who they held to a goalless draw.

Valletta will play the first leg in Luxembourg on July 9-10 and will then host their opponents in the return leg on July 16-17.

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