Sport

Draw kind to Newcastle

UEFA Cup Group stage: Middlesbrough and Newcastle United can expect to progress in the UEFA Cup after they were handed challenging…

Stuart James
Wed Oct 06 2004 - 01:00

UEFA Cup Group stage: Middlesbrough and Newcastle United can expect to progress in the UEFA Cup after they were handed challenging though not daunting opposition in yesterday's draw for the competition's inaugural group stage.

Newcastle, who were among the top seeds, have the easiest task, facing Sporting Lisbon, Dinamo Tbilisi from Georgia, Sochaux from Montbeliard in France and the Athenian team Panionios. For Middlesbrough the job will be tougher; their opponents are Lazio, Villarreal of Spain, Serbian league leaders Partizan Belgrade and Greek minnows Egaleo.

Middlesbrough's match with Lazio at the Riverside will see Gaizka Mendieta come up against his former club, who also include a familiar adversary in the person of Paolo Di Canio.

Mendieta will not, however, get the chance to return to the Stadio Olimpico. The revamped format of the UEFA Cup means teams play the other four clubs in their group only once, with two matches at home and two away. The top three clubs in each of the eight groups will then advance to the last 32, where they are joined by the eight third-placed clubs from the Champions League, as the competition reverts to a two-legged knock-out format.

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Middlesbrough's north-east of England rivals Newcastle face Sporting Lisbon and Dinamo Tbilisi at St James's Park and trips to Montbeliard and Athens.

Newcastle will also have history in their side, having beaten Sporting Lisbon on the way to winning the Fairs Cup - this competition's predecessor - in 1969.

Rangers will be thankful that they face their toughest opponents - Auxerre of France and Grazer AK of Austria - at Ibrox Park. The Scottish Premier league runners-up travel to Amica Wronki of Poland and the Dutch side AZ Alkmaar in their other matches.

Hearts have the most testing group of the four British clubs. Craig Levein's team face the former UEFA Cup winners Schalke 04 and Millwall's conquerors Ferencvaros at Murrayfield, and they travel to Switzerland and the Netherlands to take on Christian Gross's Basle and Ruud Gullit's Feyenoord respectively.