Champions League Play Off Draw August 5th [Archive]

Cripps_orig

29-07-2011, 04:34 PM

Bayern Munich (http://www.goal.com/en-gb/teams/germany/148/fc-bayern-munich-news), Arsenal (http://www.goal.com/en-gb/teams/england/94/arsenal-news), Villarreal (http://www.goal.com/en-gb/teams/spain/131/villarreal) and Udinese (http://www.goal.com/en-gb/teams/italy/122/udinese) will discover who they are playing in the Champions League play-offs when the draw takes place on August 5.

Uefa (http://www.goonersweb.co.uk/forum/#) has confirmed the draws will take place on that date for the Champions League and Europa League play-off stages.

The ceremonies for both draws take place at the House of European Football in Nyon on August 5, starting with the Champions League pairings.

Teams drawn first in either competition will be playing the first leg of the two-leg clashes at home.

Barcelona are the defending European champions, while FC Porto won the Europa League last season.

http://www.goal.com/en-gb/news/2914/champions-league/2011/07/29/2596278/champions-league-europa-league-play-off-draws-to-take-place

Who are our likely opponents?

Cripps_orig

29-07-2011, 04:43 PM

Our possible Champions League opponents

Arsenal's fourth-place finish in the 2010/11 Premier League means they will enter this season's Champions League in the Play-Off Round.

Arsène Wenger's side must win a two-legged tie to take their place in the Group Stage.

The draw for the Play-Off Round is on August 5 and the matches will be played either side of the second weekend of the Premier League campaign - the first leg is scheduled for August 16 or 17 with the second leg on August 23 or 24.

It's also worth noting that the draw is 'open' so Arsenal could be home or away in the first leg.

Possible opponents
So who could Arsenal face in the Champions League Play-Off? This is where it gets more complicated.

There will be 20 teams in the Play-Off Round but they are split into two sections - champions and non-champions. As non-champions, Arsenal cannot face a side that won its domestic title in 2010/11. That list includes Dinamo Zagreb and Rangers, assuming they are still in the competition at that stage.

Arsenal's section of ten teams will feature:

The five winners from the non-champion section of the Third Qualifying Round:
Standard Liege (Belgium) v FC Zürich (Switzerland)
Benfica (Portugal) v Trabzonspor (Turkey)
Dynamo Kyiv (Ukraine) v Rubin Kazan (Russia)
Twente (Holland) v FC Vaslui (Romania)
Odense (Denmark) v Panathinaikos (Greece)

The remaining four teams in Arsenal's section come from:

The fourth placed team from Spain (Villarreal)
The fourth placed team from Italy (Udinese)
The third placed team from Germany (Bayern Munich)
The third placed team from France (Lyon)
Once the ten clubs are confirmed, the five with the highest UEFA coefficients are seeded and will be drawn to play one of the five clubs with the lowest UEFA coefficients.

Arsenal's coefficient is bettered only by Bayern Munich in the list of potential teams in the Play-Off Round so Wenger’s side would definitely be seeded.

As it stands, if all the seeded teams from the Third Qualifying Round advance to the Play-Off Round, Bayern, Arsenal, Lyon, Benfica and Villarreal would be seeded.

In that scenario, Arsenal’s potential Play-Off opponents would be Dynamo Kyiv, Udinese, Panathinaikos, Twente or Standard Liege.

We'll update this page as the picture becomes clearer ahead of the draw for the Play-Off Round on August 5.

http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/champions-league-what-if-we-finish-fourth-

Its a couple of weeks old this article and the cunts havent updated it