FOOTBALL – Kjell Scherpen knows which opponents he will face in the Champions League. The Emmen player can prepare himself for eight top matches with his temporary employer Sturm Graz.
The Austrian national champions will face RB Leipzig, Club Brugge, Girona and Sporting CP in their own Merkur Arena. The away campaign will see matches against Borussia Dortmund, Atalanta, LOSC Lille and Brest.
The 24-year-old Scherpen is the first choice under the crossbar at Sturm Graz. This was also the case last season, until the former FC Emmen and Ajax goalie went under the knife in December due to a cruciate ligament injury.
Because Sturm Graz still became national champion at the expense of Red Bull Salzburg, Scherpen is allowed to play in the Champions League this season. Initially, the youth international was supposed to return to his original club Brighton & Hove Albion, but the English loaned him out again for a year to The Schwoazn.
Thijs Dallinga, former player of FC Emmen, also knows what he is getting into. With Bologna he meets Borussia Dortmund, Liverpool, Shakhtar Donetsk, Benfica, LOSC Lille, Sporting CP, Monaco and Aston Villa. The striker from Groningen came over from Toulouse in France this summer and signed a five-year contract with the number 9 of the Serie A.
