LONDON (SportingAlert) — The following is the list of games for the Champions League play-off round, which will also include Scottish champions Celtic.
English Premier League side Arsenal have been drawn to play Turkish side Besiktas, while a reinstated Celtic will face Slovenian champions Maribor.
Arsenal, who finished fourth the EPL last season, face a tricky two-legged tie with Besiktas, but go into the play-off clash full of confidence about qualifying for the group stages once again.
Former Newcastle United and Chelsea forward Demba Ba, will be apart of the Besiktas side which finished third in the Turkish Super League.
Celtic, in the meantime, were given a second chance at making the group stage.
The Scottish champions were humbled 6-1 over two-legs by Legia Warsaw in qualifying, but the Polish champions fielded an ineligible player and were therefore thrown out of the competition.
Elsewhere, French side Lille play against Portuguese outfits Porto, Italian Serie A side Napoli tackle Athletic Bilbao from Spain, while Germany’s Bayer Leverkusen take on FC Copenhagen from Denmark.
The first legs of the draw will take place on either 19 or 20 August with the second legs set for the following week.
Champions League play-off round
Maribor v Celtic
Salzburg v Malmo
Aalborg v Apoel Nicosia
Steaua Bucharest v Ludogorets
Slovan Bratislava v BATE Borisov
Besiktas v Arsenal
Standard Liege v Zenit St Petersburg
FC Copenhagen v Bayer Leverkusen
Lille v Porto
Napoli v Athletic Bilbao
