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July-August 2012: European Tours Begin
31st July, 2012

Of all the teams that have entered the Champions League qualifying phase, Motherwell can count themselves among the biggest surprises. "Earning" themselves a third round qualifying berth in the place of Rangers, they have found themselves drawn against Greek giants Panathinaikos, in a match to be played this evening. This could be an opportunity for the formerly considered also-rans in Scotland to assert themselves and show that every season from now on won't be a Celtic procession.

Motherwell earn famous draw in Champions League
Motherwell 1-1 Panathinaikos
Scorers: Lasley; Christodopoulos

A late goal by Keith Lasley finally rewarded a long period of Well pressure in the second half. Panathinaikos looked happy to sit on their away goal and take the lead back to Greece, and they were rightly punished.

1st August, 2012

Celtic find themselves tested by strong Finnish side
Celtic 2-1 HJK
Scorers: Hooper, Mulgrew; Schüller

After failing to take the lead in the first half, Celtic found themselves behind by an away goal in the 48th minute; however, two goals from their talents gave them the narrowest of advantage to take to Helsinki.

8th August, 2012

Second-half Hoops rally averts shock
HJK 1-4 Celtic (2-6 agg.)
Scorers: Pohjanpalo; Ledley, Samaras x2, Hooper

Celtic found themselves behind at half-time due to a goal from highly fancied youngster Joel Pohjanpalo. With the side 45 minutes from going out on away goals, it's believed Neil Lennon had some choice words during the break. These were clearly highly effective, as Celtic's attackers showed no mercy in the second half, putting a Finnish defense to the sword. Victor Wanyama put in a different kind of "merciless", however, earning a sending-off for his trouble.

Valiant Motherwell performance ultimately ends in defeat
Panathinaikos 2-0 Motherwell (3-1 agg.)
Scorers: Mavrias, Sissoko

Well gave it their best as the completely unfancied side, but it is Panathinaikos who pass to the play-off round as expected.

Meanwhile in the Europa League:

Eskisehirspor 2-0 St Johnstone
Scorers: Potuk, Sari
St Johnstone 1-0 Eskisehirspor (1-2 agg.)
Scorers: Tadé

In this second qualifying round clash, St Johnstone performed strongly, but couldn't quite pull out a second goal at either venue.

Dundee Utd 0-3 Dynamo Moscow
Scorers: Kokorin x2, Semshov
Dynamo Moscow 6-0 Dundee Utd (9-0 agg.)
Scorers: Semshov, Kokorin, Yusupov x2, Sapeta, Watson o.g.

In the third qualifying round, Dundee United were thoroughly thrashed over two legs by a superior Dynamo side. They did not even appear to have fight in them by the end of the first leg, let alone the second. "Houston, we have a problem - serious questions for gaffer to answer ahead of SPL kickoff" read one local paper after the 3-0 at Tannadice.

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I'm finally back here. Next up: SPL season Day 1. Will probably omit the scorers for most "less important" league + cup matches.

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