Arsenal have been drawn against Turkish club Besiktas in the Champions League play-off round, while reinstated Celtic will confront Slovenia's Maribor .
Arsenal to face Besiktas of Turkey in Champions League play-off
Celtic lost 6-1 to Legia Warsaw in qualifying, but the Polish champions fielded an ineligible player.
Arsene Wenger's side will travel to Turkey for the first leg on August 19 or 20 with the return at the Emirates the following week.
The Gunners have appeared in the group stages of the Champions League in each of the past 14 seasons.
Besiktas finished third in the Turkish Super League, are managed by former West Ham and Everton defender Slaven Bilic and their squad includes striker Demba Ba, who moved from Chelsea in July.
Scottish champions Celtic will play Maribor in a two-legged match with the winners advancing into the main Champions League group stage.
It is a second chance for the Bhoys after they lost 4-1 in the first leg of their third qualifying round tie in Poland, and 2-0 at home in the second leg on Wednesday.
However, Legia defender Bartosz Bereszynski came on a substitute for the final two minutes of the second leg.
He was sent off against Apollon in the final match of Legia's Europa League campaign last season, earning a three-match suspension.
The club failed to register Bereszynski for both legs of Legia's tie against St Patrick's Athletic in the second qualifying round, so therefore he was still suspended for both games against Celtic.
For Arsenal, it is the second successive season they will have faced Istanbul opposition at this stage, after they beat Fenerbahce 5-0 on aggregate last year.
The first legs will take place on either 19 or 20 August with the second legs a week later.
Full draw for the Champions League Play-off:
Maribor (Slv) v CELTIC
Salzburg (Aut) v Malmo (Swe)
Aalborg (Den) v APOEL (Cyp)
Steau Bucharest (Rom)v Ludogorets 1945 (Bul)
Slovan Bratislava (Slo) v FC Bate (Blr)
Besiktas (Tur) v ARSENAL
Standard Liege (Bel) v Zenit St Petersburg (Rus)
FC Copenhagen (Den) v Bayer Leverkusen (Ger)
Lille (Fra) v FC Porto (Por)
Napoli (Ita) v Athletic Bilbao (Esp)
Ties will take place on August 19-20 and August 26-27.
No comments:
Post a Comment