United faces Bruges in tricky clash
Print Edition
MANCHESTER United was given a troublesome tie against Club Bruges in the draw for the Champions League playoff round yesterday, although it could have been worse as the Premier League club avoided Lazio, CSKA Moscow or Monaco.
Lazio will meet Bayer Leverkusen as it attempts to return to the group stage for the first time since 2007-08 while another high profile tie pitted Spain’s Valencia against Monaco, which was a quarterfinalist last year.
Portugal’s Sporting Lisbon will face CSKA Moscow while Rapid Vienna, which stunned Ajax Amsterdam by beating the four-time European champion in the previous round, was rewarded with a tie against group stage regular Shakhtar Donetsk from the Ukraine.
United, fourth in the league last season, will still be uncomfortable at having to overcome Bruges to avoid missing out on the group stage for the second season in a row.
“Belgian football is right at the very top and we have two Belgian players in the squad who keep us abreast of what’s going on there,” said Manchester United club secretary John Alexander.
“We go into any game with confidence. We’d like to think we can win the competition.”
Coached by former Belgium goalkeeper Michel Preud’homme, Bruges has current and historic form in UEFA competitions. It reached the Europa League quarterfinals last season, and was a beaten finalist against Liverpool in the 1978 European Cup when only national champions entered.
Former European champion Celtic will play Swedish counterpart Malmo, with the first leg in Glasgow, as it attempts to make up for last season’s disappointing playoff round defeat against Maribor.
Skenderbeu, aiming to become first Albanian team to reach the group stage, must face Croatian champion Dinamo Zagreb and Astana, hoping to become Kazakhstan’s first representative in the competition proper, must meet APOEL Nicosia of Cyprus.
Champions League regular FC Basel, Swiss champion for the last six seasons, faces Maccabi Tel Aviv and BATE Borisov, which has also became a familiar face in the group stage with four appearances since 2008-09, meets Serbia’s Partizan Belgrade.
The first legs will be played on August 18-19 and the second legs on August 25-26.
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