Floriana face Linfield, Hibs hosts Fehervar in the Europa League

Floriana and Hibernians experienced mixed fortunes in the draw of the second qualifying round o the Europa League which was held in Nyon, Switzerland, on Monday.

The Greens were the happier side of the two after they were drawn against Northern Ireland’s Linfield.

On the other hand, Hibernians will host Fehervar, of Hungary.

Floriana, who dropped into the competition after being knocked out of the Champions League by CFR Cluj, were one of the seeded teams in their pot and were pitted with Northern Ireland side Linfield.

The match will be held at Windsor Park in Belfast on September 17.

The Greens will be surely pleased to have been drawn against Linfield who do not boast a great European record.

In fact, the Northern Irish side have never managed to go beyond the second qualifying round of a UEFA club competition.

Linfield, who are managed by former Manchester United and N. Ireland forward David Healy, won last season’s title in Northern Ireland for a record 54th time.

Like Floriana, the Blues were involved in the first qualifying round of the Champions League after they knocked out San Marino’s Tre Fiori in the preliminary phase.

However, their run in the top competition was ended by Polish champions Legia Warsaw who won the one-off tie 1-0.

On the other hand, Hibernians FC started the day with the prospect of being drawn against Italian giants AC Milan after they were pitted in the same group with the Italian side.

Hibernians reached the second qualifying round last week after an excellent 2-0 win at FC Vaduz, with Jurgen Degabriele netting both goals for Stefano Sanderra’s team.

However, the draw decided otherwise as Hibernians were drawn to play at home against Fehervar SC.

The Hungarian side, which was previously known as Videoton, are not new opponents for Maltese team in the UEFA club competitions.

In fact, in season 2017-18 Fehervar were drawn to face Balzan and they managed to proceed to the second qualifying round of the competition 5-3 on aggregate.