The 24-year-old will feature in the group stage after qualifying with Austria Vienna.
With midfielder James Holland set to become the latest in a long line of Socceroos to play in the Champions League, which other Aussies will feature the tournament next season?
Holland is gearing up to tackle the group stages after Austria Vienna qualified for the group stages -for the first time in their history – subsequently being handed an acid test in Group G alongside Porto, Zenit St Petersburg And Atletico Madrid – and will undoubtedly embark on a sharp learning curve.
In fact, the 24-year-old is likely to be the the Australian-based player to be the recipient of the most game time in Europe’s elite club competition with many of his compatriots considered back-up options at their respective clubs.
Tom Rogic has found it tough to break into Celtic’s team in the formative weeks of the SPL season but could be handed his chance by manager Neil Lennon when the mid-week fixtures begin to take their toll on the fitness of the squad.
It’s a similar story for veteran goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer at Chelsea. The 40-year-old arrived at Stamford Bridge in the summer to provide back-up to Blues number one Petr Cech, although manager Jose Mourinho did promise to utilise him regularly and it could be in the Champions League that Schwarzer earns his corn.
But for Robbie Kruse the outlook looks bleak after he found himself playing second fiddle to South Korean Son Heung-Min at Bayer Leverkusen and he will have to cherish every minute he gets on the pitch should appearances be forthcoming during the German club’s European campaign.
Fellow countryman Mitch Langerak also plies his trade in Germany with runners-up Borussia Dortmund and he will find it a punishing task to dislodge current first-choice ‘keeper Roman Weidenfeller and will have to be content with a seat on the bench.
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