CHAMPIONS LEAGUE DRAW:ENGLISH FOOTBALL continues to torment Steve McClaren. Six weeks after accepting the chance to revive his career with FC Twente, the former England manager received a ticket home yesterday when his new club landed Arsenal in the Champions League third qualifying round. "Fate" was what he called it in public, though he may have employed a different f-word as he watched the draw unfold in private.
British clubs emerged relatively unscathed for the last hurdle before the group stage. Liverpool, who face the Belgian champions Standard Liege, and Rangers, providing they overcome Kaunas on Tuesday, will both expect to feature in the group draw in Monaco on August 28th, while Manchester City and Aston Villa received favourable Scandinavian opposition in the Uefa Cup.
Arguably the toughest assignment awaits Arsenal against Twente, though McClaren's team will be underdogs. The Enschede club qualified for the Champions League for the first time in their history by virtue of beating Ajax in the Eredivisie play-off last season.
Since then the head coach, Fred Rutten, and the Netherlands midfielder, Orlando Engelaar, have departed but McClaren used the positive spin of his England tenure to offer his new employers hope of causing a major upset.
"I expected one of the English teams. I think fate deals you certain cards and it has dealt us this draw," said the former Middlesbrough manager. "Of all the teams we could have had, that is the toughest.
"In one respect it's a tough draw for us, on the other it's now an opponent we know very well - not just myself, everyone in Holland knows the Premier League, so Arsenal will be no strangers to us."
The German side Schalke landed the unseeded opponent everyone wanted to avoid when they drew Atletico Madrid, while Liverpool's quest to reach a third Champions League final in five seasons begins against Standard Liege.
"There are two very important things about this draw," said Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez. "Firstly the second game is at home. I'm also pleased because the travelling isn't a problem. We don't have to go too far, which is good news, especially when you look at some of the teams we could have drawn."
Rangers will face Aalborg for a place in the Champions League proper if they can see off Kaunas on Tuesday, having drawn 0-0 at Ibrox. Walter Smith's team were paired with the Danish club or Modrica of Bosnia but the Danes, managed by Bruce Rioch, are 5-0 up from the first leg.
THIRD QUALIFYING ROUND
(First legs to be played Aug 12th and 13th, return legs Aug 26th and 27th)
Anorthosis Famagusta/Rapid Vienna v Olympiacos
Vitoria Guimaraes v IFK Gothenburg/FC Basel
Shakhtar Donetsk v NK Domzale/Dinamo Zagreb
Schalke v Atletico Madrid
Aalborg/FK Modrica v Rangers/Kaunas
Barcelona v Beitar Jerusalem/Wisla Krakow
Levski Sofia v Anderlecht/Bate
Standard Liege v Liverpool
Inter Baku/FK Partizan v Fenerbahce/MTK Budapest
FC Twente v Arsenal
Spartak Moscow v DROGHEDA UTD/Dinamo Kiev
Juventus v Tampere/Artmedia
Brann/Ventspils v Marseille
Fiorentina v Slavia Prague
Galatasaray v Steaua Bucharest
Panathinaikos/Dinamo Tbilisi v Sheriff Tiraspol/Sparta Prague
