July 13, 2022 - The Croatian champion Dinamo and the Macedonian champion KF Shkupi will meet in the 2nd round of the Champions League qualifiers on July 19. 

The 2021/22 Croatian football champion Dinamo found out their opponent in the 2nd qualifying round of the Champions League. It will be the Macedonian club KF Shkupi, based in Čair, Skopje. 

As expected, Dinamo will open their European tour this season against the Macedonian champion, but the Gibraltarian champion Lincoln Red Imps were on the verge of a shocking upset. 

The Macedonian team, led by the former player of Dinamo Zagreb and coach of the second team, Goce Sedloski, lost in the second leg of the 1st qualifying round away to Lincoln Red Imps 0-2, but Shkupi celebrated 3-0 in the first match in front of their fans and with an aggregate of 3-2, moved forward. 

Lincoln Red Imps took the lead in the 32nd minute with a goal by Juan Pena, and Lee Casciaro made it 2-0 in the 69th minute. The champion of Gibraltar needed one more goal to at least win extra time, but Shkupi managed to defend well to keep them out of the net.

Dinamo will be the host in the first game of the 2nd qualifying round on July 19, and the return match is seven days later. The Croatian champion will be the seeded team in all preliminary rounds of all European competitions, which makes the path to the Champions League group much easier for the Zagreb club.

Suppose Dinamo advances to the 3rd qualifying round of the Champions League. In that case, they will have at least compete in the group stage of the Conference League, while entering the Champions League play-off means at least a spot in the Europa League group stage. 

Dinamo is still missing some players, including Boško Šutalo, who has yet to recover from abdominal wall surgery and other issues and will be out for at least the first month. However, Josip Šutalo should be ready soon, while Emreli is also injured at the moment. 

Source: HRT

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