An under-strength Arsenal XI survived a late fightback from BATE Borisov

Arsene Wenger has urged his young players to seize the chance presented by Arsenal’s Europa League campaign as they await their opening away fixture at BATE Borisov in Belarus.

Dundalk manager Stephen Kenny says he has no regrets about missing out on glamour opposition as yesterday’s Europa League draw placed the Irish champions in a testing and long-haul group comprising Russian giants Zenit St Petersburg, Dutch side AZ Alkmaar and Israel’s Maccabi Tel Aviv.

The standard line from footballers is that you treat every game the same but, with the best wishes of Martin O’Neill ringing in their ears, the news that President Michael D. Higgins will be in attendance and, as of yesterday, around 23,000 tickets already sold, there’s no escaping the reality that the footballers of Dundalk will be contesting the highest stakes match of their lives when they take to the Aviva Stadium pitch to play Legia Warsaw in their Champions League play-off first leg tomorrow evening.

THE quote of the week had to be Stephen Kenny describing the luminous moment in Tallaght Stadium on Tuesday night when Robbie Benson’s clinical finish found the back of the net, sealing Dundalk’s stunning 3-0 victory over BATE Borisov and taking the club to the giddy heights of a play-off for a place in the group stages of the Champions League.

Stephen Kenny will be in Poland tomorrow to watch Legia Warsaw host Piast Gliwice as Dundalk accelerate preparations for their huge Champions League play-off games against the Polish champions at Aviva Stadium on August 17 and in Warsaw on August 23.

Dundalk's David McMillan has revealed the extent to which becoming the first Irish club to reach the Champions League could transform their fortunes.

BATE Borisov 1 Dundalk 0: Substitute Mikhail Gordeichuk’s 70th minute strike for BATE Borisov in the Borisov Arena last night finally broke Dundalk’s resistance to leave the League of Ireland champions with it all to do if they are to realise their Champions League dream.

Louth is known as the Land of Legends.

Ronan Finn believes that any legacy of Dundalk’s current dominance of the League of Ireland needs the enhancement of a memorable run in Europe.

Barcelona strengthened their position at the top of Champions League Group E as a brace from substitute Ivan Rakitic steered them to a comfortable 2-0 win at BATE Borisov.

Robert Lewandowski’s incredible goalscoring form continued as the striker’s hat-trick helped Bayern Munich thrash Dinamo Zagreb 5-0.

Dundalk 1 Cork City 1: On a quintessentially Irish summer evening — wind, rain and a moderate risk of frostbite — the loyal 2,613 who braved the elements at Oriel Park were rewarded with an absorbing game, fully befitting a top two Premier Division clash.

Is there a handy Grexit-style word out there to sum up Irish football’s departure from Europe this week?

Dundalk 0 BATE Borisov 0 (BATE Borisov win 2-1 on aggregate): Raging anticipation gave way to crushing anti-climax in Oriel Park last night as Dundalk failed to get the one goal required to keep them in the Champions League.

The Dundalk Democrat has a 12-page pull-out on the game which they’re calling the biggest at Oriel Park since the fabled European Cup tie with Celtic in 1979.

Longford Town 1 Cork City 4: Steven Beattie says he couldn’t have planned a better league debut for Cork City.

BATE Borisov 2 Dundalk 1: Dundalk gave themselves every chance of advancing to the third qualifying round of the Champions League after leaving the Borisov Arena last night with a priceless away goal despite going down to BATE Borisov.

Dundalk will be hoping to achieve the “unthinkable” when they take to the field at the Borisov Arena tonight (6.30pm Irish time) to face BATE Borisov in the second qualifying round of the Champions League.

Although delighted that the club are back in Europe for the first time since 2008, Cork City boss John Caulfield admits to mixed feelings about drawing Iceland’s KR Reykjavik in the Europa League.

Paris St-Germain shrugged off the absence of Zlatan Ibrahimovic to inflict a first defeat on Barcelona under their new coach Luis Enrique, with a thrilling 3-2 victory at the Parc des Princes last night.

The draw for the UEFA Champions League play-off is as follows.

St Patrick’s Athletic fans face a trip to Poland as they were drawn against Legia Warsaw in the Second Qualifying round of the Champions League today.

Reigning European champions Chelsea will face Sparta Prague in the last 32 of the Europa League.

Lionel Messi ended the night on a stretcher instead of the history books as an under-strength Barcelona battled to a goalless draw against Benfica last night.

Valencia and Bayern Munich both progressed to the knockout stages of the Champions League with a 1-1 draw at the Mestalla last night.

Bayern Munich surged to the top of Champions League Group F with a 6-1 hammering of pointless Lille.

Juventus were made to come from behind to salvage a draw for the third Champions League match running as FC Nordsjaelland’s first ever goal in the competition left them scrambling in Denmark.

Barcelona kept their perfect start to the season going with a 2-0 win at Benfica thanks to goals either side of half-time by Alexis Sanchez and Cesc Fabregas.

Manchester United began their preparations for the new season with an unconvincing win over South African outfit AmaZulu in Durban.

LIONEL MESSI scored a hat-trick as Barcelona became the first team to book their place in the UEFA Champions League knockout stages with a 4-0 win at Viktoria Plzen.

WRITING up an Ian Turner interview this week ahead of today’s EA Sports Cup final between Cork City and Derry, I had a rare moment of inspiration.

BARCELONA midfielder Andres Iniesta will be sidelined for around a month after suffering an injury during last night’s 2-2 Champions League draw with AC Milan at Camp Nou.

Arsenal will join the top seeds in the Champions League draw today following their victory over Udinese but Manchester City are likely to be handed a tough introduction to life in Europe’s elite club competition.