Zambia’s Kangwa in UEFA CL playoff action

It is D-Day in the 2022/23 UEFA Champions League Playoffs for two Chipolopolo stars in mid-week action.

Over the next 48 hours, midfielder Klings Kangwa and striker Fashion Sakala’s clubs’ will be battling to stumble across the finish line to qualify for the UEFA Champions League group stage.

On Tuesday, Serbian giants Red Star Belgrade are home, battling to overturn their first leg loss away in Israel against Maccabi Haifa.

Maccabi head into tonight’s match in Belgrade armed with a narrow 3-2 lead from last Wednesday’s first leg meeting.

Kangwa is set for his fourth straight European start for Red Star, whom he joined in the off-season from demoted Russian club Arsenal Tula.

The midfielder has one goal in the competition after scoring in the last round in a 5-0 home win over Armenian side Pyunik.

Elsewhere, Sakala is in Holland with last season’s Scottish Premiership runners-up, Glasgow Rangers, to face PSV Eindhoven.

The two sides are locked at 2-2 from the first leg played in Glasgow on August 16. However, the Zambian striker has yet to taste any competitive action this season, with speculation growing over his future at Ibrox continuing to swirl.

Meanwhile, the six playoff stage winners will join 26 automatic qualifier club’s in group stage draws for this season’s UEFA Champions League that will be held on August 25 in Istanbul.

The draw features 32 teams, of which 26 teams are given direct entry to the group stage and the six winners of the play-off ties.

The teams will be split into four seeding pots. Pot 1 will consist of the holders, the UEFA Europa League winners and the champions of the six highest-ranked nations who did not qualify via one of the 2021/22 titles; Pots 2 to 4 will be determined by the club coefficient rankings.