Ipswich were bracing themselves for Ronaldo and the San Siro yesterday after being drawn with Inter Milan in the third round of the UEFA Cup. If George Burley's team might have preferred to have avoided the second favourites until the final, few will complain at a meeting with the Italian giants this early on.

Celtic also face a tough task against Valencia after falling out of the Champions League, in which the Spaniards have been finalists for the past two seasons. Leeds play the Swiss club Grasshopper and Rangers meet Paris St-Germain.

Ipswich play first at home against Inter, who won 2-1 on aggregate against the Polish side Wisla Krakow, though it may change as Milan are due to play Sporting Lisbon at the San Siro the same week. "Portman Road is a tight stadium, maybe not the sort of thing they are used to," said Ipswich's chairman David Sheepshanks. "You hope to draw a smaller club you can beat. But the excitement of Europe is playing one of the big fish and they don't come much bigger."

Inter's coach Hector Cuper, who took Valencia to those two European Cup finals, sounded unaware of Ipswich's style. "We need to think about the tactics we will need when we are defending against the high ball," he said. Ipswich's Sixto Peralta, on loan from Inter, has permission to play.

Leeds will be without several players for their first leg in Zurich against Grasshopper. "We already know we will have Mark Viduka and Harry Kewell on World Cup duty with Australia," said the manager David O'Leary, "while the events at Hull crown court mean we won't be able to call upon Lee Bowyer and Jonathan Woodgate."

Celtic's opponents Valencia, unbeaten in sixth place in La Liga, won 6-1 at home to Legia Warsaw on Thursday. Arsenal and Leeds lost at Mestalla in the European Cup last season but Martin O'Neill is hopeful after their midweek victory over Juventus. His side travel to Spain first. "I wish it would have been a wee bit easier," he said, "but the fans will be looking forward to it. And if we could reproduce the form, which will be very difficult, from the other evening then we will be more than a match."

Rangers must play their first leg against PSG at Ibrox, despite being drawn away, because Celtic would also have been in action on the night of the return. Chelsea's conquerors Hapoel Tel-Aviv meet Lokomotiv Moscow. "We will have to recognise we will have this Hapoel result shoved down our throats for God knows how long and so will the six players who didn't go [to Tel Aviv]," said Ken Bates, Chelsea's chairman.

UEFA CUP

THIRD-ROUND DRAW: PAOK Salonika v PSV; Fiorentina v Lille; Valencia v Celtic; Servette v Hertha Berlin; Ipswich v Internazionale; PSG v Rangers; Feyenoord v Freiburg; AEK Athens v Liteks Lovech; Grasshopper v Leeds United; Brondby v Parma; Bordeaux v Roda; Slovan Liberec v Real Mallorca; Hapoel Tel-Aviv v Lokomotiv Moscow; Copenhagen v Borussia Dortmund; Sporting Lisbon v Milan; Club Brugges v Lyon.

First-leg ties to be played on November 22th; Second-leg ties to be played on December 6th.