Champions League play-off draw: When is it and who might Manchester United play?
Two-legged tie is final obstacle to group phase of the Champions League
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Your support makes all the difference.Manchester United are set to learn who they will face in the Champions League play-off, a two-legged tie to determine which teams progress to the group phase of the competition.
The draw will take place in Uefa's 'DrawCentre' at midday Friday 7 August.
The seeds have not been confirmed by Uefa, and will not be officially revealed until Friday morning. However, Manchester United are certain to be among them. This is how Uefa explains how it works...
The teams with the five highest coefficients in each route – this applies to both League and Champions – will be seeded and drawn against the other five teams in that route. To determine each tie, one side apiece from the seeded and non-seeded pots will be drawn and placed in another pot, with the first of the two to then be picked out at home in the first leg.
Who could Manchester United face?
Among those that Louis van Gaal's side could be paired with in Friday's draw are heavyweights Lazio and Monaco. The other teams are CSKA Moscow, Rapid Vienna or Club Brugge based on current coefficients.
Teams in the draw...
League route:
Automatic entrants: Valencia (ESP), Manchester United (ENG), Bayer Leverkusen (GER), Lazio (ITA), Sporting Lisbon (POR)
Third qualifying round winners: AS Monaco (FRA), Rapid Vienna (AUT), Club Brugge (BEL), CSKA Moscow (RUS), Shakhtar Donetsk (UKR)
Champions route:
Third qualifying round winners: APOEL (CYP), Astana (KAZ), BATE Borisov (BLR), Celtic (SCO), Dinamo Zagreb (CRO), FC Basel (SUI), Partizan (SRB), Malmö (SWE), Maccabi Tel-Aviv (ISR), Skënderbeu (ALB)
The matches will be played on 18/19 and 25/26 September.
The draw will be covered live on www.independent.co.uk
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