The 2023 Champions League begins to be played in an inhospitable environment and with a goal from an Argentine on his first day

Beyond the fact that summer is present in the northern hemisphere. The four teams that kicked off the Champions League in the preliminary round on Tuesday had one more rival in Reykjavik, the capital of Iceland: cold. There the three games (the two semifinals played this Tuesday and the final Friday) between the four champion teams from the four leagues with the worst UEFA coefficient at the end of 2022: this is La Fiorita, from San Marino; Inter Club d’Escaldes, of Andorra; the Vikingur, from Iceland; and Levadia, from Estonia.

Vikingur had an advantage: he lent his stadium and was local. While not having the atmosphere of Anfield or Bernabéu, the home team did not fail and beat Levadia 6-1. The final will be against Inter Club d’Escaldes, who beat La Fiorita 2-1. A peculiarity? The first goal of the crosses (and of the Champions) was scored by the Argentine, ex Chacarita, Daniele Rinaldiwho has been playing in San Marino for years and defending the colors of the national team of that small state.

But back to the match scene, in Víkingsvöllur (also known as Víkin or Keppnisvöllur) 1,449 people enter all seated and indoors. On celebratory or exceptional occasions, another 300 standing fans are allowed. A unique detail (although not so much in Northern Europe): it is played on synthetic grass.

The winner of this phase already has a rival in the next one, which is the first qualifying round. Y the draw established that it was a team with tradition and background: Malmö, from SwedenEuropean runner-up (lost 1-0 to Nottingham Forest) and Intercontinental runner-up (lost 3-1 overall to Olimpia), in 1979. Closer in time, that’s where he took his first professional steps as a Zlatan Ibrahimović.

The player with the highest market value in this mini tournament in Iceland, according to the specialized website Transfermarkt, is Oleksiy Khoblenko, with 500 thousand euros. He was born in Yekaterinburg, Russia, but became a citizen of Ukraine. He comes from Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih and now plays for Levadia. He arrived as a free player in March after the war afflicting the region.

San Marino, the third smallest state in Europe, it is also the oldest republic. According to tradition, it was founded in 301 when a Christian stonemason named Marinus the Dalmatian left the island of Rab to escape the anti-Christian policy of the Roman emperor Diocletian. As for football, it has one of the worst teams in history.

Almost always last in the FIFA ranking (it must not be easy to put together a team among 33,938 inhabitants; for this reason most of its players are Italian and also has the Argentines Ramiro Lago and the aforementioned Danilo Rinaldi, captain of La Fiorita). And, of course, their teams in the UEFA coefficient are also in the background. Serve a given: his only victory was against Liechtenstein (1-0), in 2004. Two years later at his stadium in Serravalle, Germany beat him 13-0.

From that football La Fiorita was born. It doesn’t have much to offer overall. The figures of him, the midfielder Damiano Errico and the central scorer Andrea Breghi (both of Italian origin)they are quoted at 100,000 euros.

As happens with the Italians in San Marino, it happens with the Spaniards (especially Catalans) in Andorra: the teams and occasionally the chosen ones feed on powerful neighbors. In fact, at the Inter Club d’Escaldes there are more Spaniards than locals.

This Inter, which, like Italy, regularly wears black and blue and its scudetto wears those colors, has it with four players worth 200,000 euros: Pau Bosch and Adriá Gallego – both Spaniards champions last season with the team – and two reinforcements, Jesús Rubio and the Moroccan nationalized Spaniard Ahmed Belhadji.

The semifinals between these four unknown to the football elite were played continuously. In the first round, Inter beat La Fiorita 2-1, after going behind on the counterattack for a goal from Argentine Rinaldi. But in 21 minutes, already in the second half, with the brace of the Catalan Genís Soldevilla Solduga, who arrived at Inter in 2018, after leaving football.

In the second round, at home, Vikingur beat Levadia 6-1 and won the other place in the decisive match on Friday against Inter Andorra. He also overturned the game. He had been losing for five minutes due to a penalty from Beglarishvil. But already at 27 he was winning 2-1. And he hasn’t stopped since. He converted one goal in the first half and three more in the second. Authors: McLagan, Ingason, Sigurdsson, Hansen, Gudjonsson and Magnusson.

This Friday will be the time for this sort of first Champions League final. For its participants it is no small thing. It means climbing in Europe or returning to compete at home.