Here we go with the first match of a busy evening...

Celtic manager Neil Lennon is pleased Odsonne Edouard is fit enough to start up front tonight.

"It's great having him back and he's trained and looked sharp the last few days," he told Sportsound.

"He's itching to play and he's a huge player for us so we're able to get him back in to the team and that gives everyone a lift."

On the standard of tonight's oppositions, Lennon said: "It's a difficult one to gauge really.

"All we've seen is on television. We have to go by results really and they have been keeping clean sheets the last three or four games but they did get a positive result against Copenhagen here last year.

"We have to be patient and well-disciplined in our shape."

Tonight's hosts are two games into their league season and have beaten Georgia's Dinamo Batumi and Albania's Laci to progress in this competition.

They are not quite on home turf though, since their own stadium is being renovated, with this match moved to Petah Tikva, near Tel Aviv.

The Israeli side ran Celtic close in the 2016 Champions League play-off, winning 2-0 at home after a 5-2 loss in Glasgow.

Pat Bonner
Former Celtic goalkeeper on BBC Sportsound

James McFadden
Former Scotland forward on BBC Radio Scotland

Celtic have never played Latvian opposition before and Neil Lennon is certainly not taking tonight's task lightly.

Riga, going for a third consecutive title, are 19 games into their domestic campaign and top of the league.

With a busload of Brazilians in their squad, they too toppled out of Champions League qualifying with a 2-0 loss to Maccabi Tel Aviv.

They got here by edging out San Marino's Tre Fiori 1-0 at home.

Last season, they were eliminated at the play-off stage by Copenhagen, who would go on to knock Celtic out in the round of 32. Riga won 1-0 at home in the second leg, going out 3-2 on aggregate.

"They have good discipline in their shape," said Lennon. "They will be tough to break down."

Image source, SNS

Sporting are one of the giants of Portuguese football, champions 18 times and with a conveyor belt of top talent.

Under normal circumstances, Dons fans may have been quaking in their boots, but these are not normal times.

The hosts have nine players isolating after testing positive for Covid-19, along with head coach Ruben Amorin.

Their league opener was cancelled at the weekend due to the outbreak, so they have not played a competitive match since 25 July. There were three friendlies before a planned meeting with Napoli was kiboshed.

Another chink of light for the visitors is Sporting's record against Scottish clubs, with just five wins from 14 fixtures against Rangers, Celtic, Dundee and Hibernian.

Rangers made light work of Lincoln Red Imps in the last round, banging in five goals in Gibraltar.

That result also meant Steven Gerrard's side had opened the season with eight clean sheets. However, their defence was breached not once but twice on Sunday as Hibs battled to a 2-2 draw at Easter Road on Sunday.

Gerrard wants his side fully focused again this evening, warning that they cannot afford any lapses at the back.

"If you're passive and stand off good players, even more than domestically, you'll get hurt at this level," he said.

"A big part of our performance and success throughout these qualifiers in the last couple of years and our journeys in Europe have really stemmed from a solid base defensively, our organisation and what we've given out of possession."

Image source, SNS

James McFadden
Former Scotland forward on BBC Radio Scotland

Hapoel Be'er Sheva: Levita, Miguel Vítor, Acolatse, Kabha, Josue, Goldberg, Bareiro, Sallalich, Taha, Dadia, Agudelo

Substitutes: Rahamim, Tzedek, Shviro, Yosefi, Varenne, Meli, Hatuel

Motherwell: Carson, Gallagher, Lamie, McGinley, O'Donnell, Campbell, O'Hara, Polworth, Grimshaw, Watt, Long

Substitutes: Morrison, White, Lang, Hastie, Maguire, Seedorf, Cornelius

Viktoria Plzen or Sonderjyske await the winners of this tie.

Motherwell made hard work of the previous round, needing spot-kick heroics from goalkeeper Trevor Carson to squeak past Coleraine on penalties after a 2-2 draw in Northern Ireland.

However, Stephen Robinson's men were right at it on Sunday as they swept Aberdeen aside to win 3-0 at Pittodrie, making it back-to-back Premiership wins after a sticky start.

"We're not going with any fear," said Robinson. "We quietly think we can go there and get a result. Why not? What have we got to lose? It would be an incredible achievement."

Riga: Ozols, Peterson, Stuglis, Prenga, Rugins, Nata, Panic, Roger, Djurisic, Debelko, Kamess

Substitutes: Purins, Brisola, Sharpar, Hora, Černomordijs, N'Kololo, Milošević

Celtic: Barkas, Taylor, Duffy, Bitton, Ajer, Forrest, Brown, McGregor, Ntcham, Christie, Edouard

Substitutes: Bain, Ajeti, Klimala, Turnbull, Elyounoussi, Frimpong, Elhamed

Celtic find themselves in the second tier tournament following a shock home defeat to Ferencvaros in Champions League qualifying.

Now they are here, manager Neil Lennon is targeting the group phase, with the Scottish champions topping their section last season thanks to memorable home and away successes against Lazio.

"Europe stimulates your season, it stimulates your players and supporters," said Lennon yesterday.

"Our endeavour is to make the group stage and that opens up the whole season. So we're treating this game very seriously."

Sarajevo or Buducnost Podgorica await the winners in the play-off round.

Nathan McGinley comes in for the suspended Bevis Mugabi.

No surprise to see manager Stephen Robinson sticking with the rest of the side that dismantled Aberdeen on Sunday.

With Christopher Jullien nursing a back injury at home, Nir Bitton steps into the Celtic defence in place of Hatem Elhamed.

Odsonne Edouard is back to lead the line after getting a rest at the weekend, with Albian Ajeti dropping to the bench.

To make things a bit trickier, the quartet of Scottish teams are all away from home this evening - and remember of all these ties are one-off games, settled by extra time and penalties if need be.

With games in Latvia, Israel, Portugal and Netherlands, they'll be clocking up more miles than Simon Reeve, Michael Palin and Judith Chalmers could shake a stick at...

BBC Radio Scotland coverage has started and there will be commentary of Riga v Celtic (18:00) and Sporting v Aberdeen (20:00), with updates from Be'er Shiva v Motherwell (18:30) and Willem II v Rangers (20:00).

The rest of us will be going cross-eyed looking at monitors to keep these text updates ticking over.

Image source, Google

With daylight fading and morning frost, autumn is well and truly under way, but all of Scotland's European representatives are still standing.

It's not quite where Celtic want to be but lets celebrate the fact we have four sides in the third qualifying round of the Europa League since there are often early casualties.

Rangers, Aberdeen and Motherwell are the others vying for a place in the play-off round this evening, so stay with us as the action unfolds.

Image source, Getty Images