Armenia’s FC Mika will have everything to play for when they host a Macedonian team in the second leg of a UEFA Europa League second qualifying round tie in Yerevan on Thursday. In what seemed to be more of a blessing than a curse for any Armenian team at this stage, the tournament’s draw late last week decided that the winner of the Mika v Rabotnicki tie got an underperforming, but, nonetheless, renowned English Premiership club Liverpool as their next opponent in the third and final qualifying round.

So far Armenian clubs have failed to go beyond the preliminary stages in European competitions and, naturally, no Armenian club has ever played against a competitor of Liverpool’s caliber.

To secure the tie, however, the Yerevan club will still need to win the match at home with at least a two-goal difference. The first leg of the tie in the Macedonian capital Skopje last week ended 1-0 to the home team.

Interestingly, the British Daily Mail (www.dailymail.co.uk) writes on Liverpool’s prospects: “… Finishing seventh in the Barclays Premier League last season cost them [Liverpool] their place among the elite, and there was a sharp reminder of their fall from grace after they were handed a third qualifying round encounter with Macedonia’s Rabotnicki or Armenian runners-up Mika.

“Liverpool have never before played a tie in either country, and even their own website billed it as a ‘trip into the unknown’ as they tried to shed light on the two minnows barring the five-times European champions’ path to the competition proper.”

If Mika are successful in their current tie against Robotnicki, Armenian fans will get an opportunity to enjoy a Liverpool encounter in Yerevan as early as August 5. Before that, July 29, Mika would take a trip to England to play the Reds on their home ground.

In the meantime, Armenia’s other club vying for a spot in the 2010/11 UEFA Champions League main stage, Pyunik, appears to have got a less strong opponent, FK Ekranas from Lithuania or HJK from Finland, for the third and last qualifying round. But before taking their chances on the Lithuanians or the Finns, Pyunik will need to beat, on aggregate, their current rival FK Partizan when the two play the second leg of their tie in Yerevan on Wednesday. In the first match in Belgrade last week, Serbia’s champion beat Pyunik 3-1.