Champions League 2013 Qualifying: Previewing Wednesday's Playoff-Round Action

The UEFA Champions League playoff round may be an early chapter in a Cinderella story for some of Europe's lesser-known clubs, and the action from the qualifying stages of the tournament will continue to heat up.

The European giants are still waiting to start their UCL campaigns, but 20 teams are fighting for spots in the group stage.

Advancing to the next phase of the competition would be a lucrative and glorious achievement for any of these clubs, and the players will be extremely motivated to succeed.

Here is the necessary information for the five matches on Wednesday, August 22. All fixtures will start at 2:45 p.m. ET.

AEL vs. Anderlecht

AEL Limassol will be looking to equal the accomplishments of APOEL—another team from the Cypriot First Division who reached the first knockout round in last year's Champions League.

AEL won Cyprus' top flight last season, and they have had success in Europe thus far, beating Irish League champions Linfield 3-0 on aggregate in the second qualifying round, then taking out Serbian SuperLiga winners Partizan from the 2-0 on aggregate in the next stage.

Now the team will take on Anderlecht, who won Belgium's top flight this past year. The Belgian side continued to tout a talented attack even after highly-regarded striker Romelu Lukaku transfered to Chelsea.

Look for the Anderlecht attackers to get on the score sheet early in this fixture to mark the beginning of the end for AEL.

BATE Borisov vs. Hapoel Kiryat Shmona

This match will feature Belarusian champions BATE Borisov against the Israeli Premier League winners Hapoel Kiryat Shmona. 

BATE Borisov may be a familiar name to some fans, as they reached the group stage last year and even pulled out a 1-1 draw against AC Milan. This year they were able to hold off Vardar, the winners of the Macedonian league, then eliminated Hungarian champions Debreceni to reach this stage in the tournament. 

The Israelis squeaked by Slovakian champion Zilina before moving easily past Neftchi Baku, who won the Azerbaijani Premier League. 

BATE knows what it takes to grind their way to the group stage, and they will be an extremely tough opponent for the Israelis. 

Braga vs. Udinese

Udinese followed Antonio Di Natale to a third place finish in Serie A last season while Braga took the same position in Portgual's Primeira Liga.

Di Natale notched 23 goals last season in Sere A matches, but Braga had a lethal striker of its own. Lima, a 29-year-old Brazilian, hit the back of the net 20 times in league fixtures.

Both teams rely on a single striker for a large chunk of its scoring output and also play tough defense. The similar styles of these two teams will make this an intriguing contest. 

The key matchups in this game will be both sets of center backs going against the center forwards from each team. 

Dinamo Zagreb vs. NK Maribor

Dinamo Zagreb reached the group stage of the Champions League last year, but the team's campaign got ugly after that. They failed to earn a point in six matches, scoring three goals while allowing 22. 

Still, the Croatian champions have more experience in the tournament than NK Maribor, who won the Slovenian league and participated in Europa League last season. 

This will be interesting regional contest, with the two clubs based just under 75 miles away from each other. 

The Battle of the Balkans will be an intriguing affair, but Zagreb should be able to earn a positive result in this fixture. 

Malaga vs. Panathinaikos

With a member of the Qatari royal family in the owner's box and Manuel Pellegrini on the sidelines, Malaga posted a historic fourth place finish in La Liga this past season. Now they are facing Panathinaikos to keep their Champions League hopes alive.

Panathinaikos were runners-up in the Greek league this past season, and took care of the Scottish Premier League side Motherwell 5-0 on aggregate.

But Malaga will be a much more difficult side to deal with. Despite losing Santi Cazorla to Arsenal, former Spanish international Joaquin as well as Isco, an exciting young midfielder, still give the team a talented attack.

There will be too much creativity and flare going forward for the Greek side to deal with.