Arsenal were yesterday handed a Champions League play-off draw against Italian side Udinese.
Arsene Wenger’s men collapsed at the end of the last Premier League season to finish fourth and so face a qualifying tie to secure safe passage to the lucrative group stages for a 14th season.
The Gunners were seeded for the draw in Nyon, and will face a two-legged fixture over August 16-17 and 23-24, which is sandwiched between some tough Premier League games against Newcastle, Liverpool and Manchester United.
Even though Arsenal were one of the seeds, there was no fixture weighting, meaning the Gunners will play the first leg in London.
Wenger, though, must serve a one-match touchline ban following UEFA disciplinary action in the wake of last season’s second-round exit to Barcelona in the Nou Camp, after being charged with “inappropriate language” directed towards referee official Massimo Busacca.
The Swiss official had controversially shown Robin van Persie a second yellow card for shooting at goal just one second after he had blown the whistle for offside – the Dutch striker claimed he had not heard it due to the noise of the 95,000-plus crowd.
The draw also featured two previous winners of Europe’s top club competition, with Bayern Munich facing Swiss side FC Zurich and former title-holders from Portugal, Benfica, up against Dutch league runners-up FC Twente.
Bayern have been crowned champions of Europe four times and their coach Jupp Heynckes said: “This is a game we can win and an interesting task. We have a great opportunity to move into the group stage.”
The ten play-off winners will then join the 22 automatically qualified teams for the group stage draw to be held in Monaco on August 25.
Meanwhile, the draw for the Europa League play-offs, also yesterday, threw up a Battle of Britain clash as Scottish club Hearts were paired with Londoners Tottenham Hotspur.
Hearts sealed their place in this stage of the competition after beating Hungarian club Paksi in new coach Paulo Sergio’s first match in charge on Thursday.
It will be the first-ever competitive meeting of the sides, although Spurs have twice played Scottish opposition, beating Rangers 8-4 on aggregate in the Cup Winners’ Cup, in 1962, and Aberdeen 5-2 in the UEFA Cup, in 1973.
Atletico Madrid will begin their Europa League campaign against Vitoria.
The 2010 winners are set to host the first leg against the Portuguese Cup runners-up in the opening leg on August 18, with the return match scheduled for seven days later.
Primera Liga rivals Athletic Bilbao will travel to Turkish side Trabzonspor for the opening match of their play-off tie, while Sevilla face a tricky encounter with Germany’s Hanover.
Another Bundesliga club, Schalke, will make the trip north to Finnish champions HJK Helsinki.
Braga, runners-up to Portuguese rivals Porto in last season’s Europa League final, were drawn against Swiss side Young Boys, Roma take on Slovan Bratislava, with Lazio entertaining Macedonian club Rabotnicki in the opening leg.
Elsewhere, 2010 Europa League finalists Fulham were handed a tricky-looking draw against Ukrainian club Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk, who are coached by former Sevilla, Tottenham and Real Madrid boss Juande Ramos.
Rangers will meet another Champions League dropout in Maribor while Celtic clash against FC Sion, of Switzerland.
Play-offs draw
Champions League 1st leg 2nd leg Agg
Wisla Krakow (Poland) vs Apoel Nicosia (Cyprus)
Maccabi Haifa (Israel) vs Genk (Belgium)
Dinamo Zagreb (Croatia) vs Malmo (Sweden)
FC Copenhagen (Denmark) vs Vik. Plzen (Czech)
FC BATE Borisov (Belarus) vs Sturm Graz (Austria)
OB Odense (Denmark) vs Villarreal (Spain)
FC Twente (Holland) vs Benfica (Portugal)
Arsenal (England) vs Udinese (Italy)
Bayern Munich (Germany) vs Zurich (Switzerland)
Lyon (France) vs Rubin Kazan (Russia)
First legs: August 16-17. Second legs: 23-24.
Europa League
Maccabi Tel-Aviv vs Panathinaikos; Atletico Madrid vs Vitoria Guimaraes; Shamrock Rovers vs Partizan Belgrade; Metalist Kharkiv vs Sochaux; Besiktas vs Alania Vladikavkaz; Rosenborg vs AEK Larnaca; Vorskla Poltava vs Dinamo Bucharest; Bursaspor vs Anderlecht; Roma vs Slovan Bratislava; Olympiakos Volou vs Paris SG;
Legia Warsaw vs Spartak Moscow; FK Ekranas vs Hapoel Tel-Aviv; PAOK vs Karpaty Lviv; Trabzonspor vs Athletic Bilbao; Hearts vs Tottenham; NK Maribor vs Rangers; Steaua Bucharest vs CSKA Sofia; Nordsjaelland vs Sporting Lisbon; Dnipro vs Fulham; Lokomotiv Moscow vs Spartak Trnava; Celtic vs FC Sion;
Slask Wroclaw vs Rapid Bucharest; Litex Lovech vs Dynamo Kiev; Lazio vs Rabotnicki; Nacional vs Birmingham; PSV Eindhoven vs Ried; Thun vs Stoke; Aalesund vs AZ Alkmaar; Vaslui vs Sparta Prague; Omonia vs Salzburg; Zestafoni vs Club Brugge; Hanover vs Sevilla; HJK vs Schalke; Dinamo Tbilisi vs AEK Athens; Red Star vs Rennes; Gaz Metan vs Austria Vienna; Braga vs Young Boys; Standard Liege vs Helsingborg.
First legs: August 18. Second legs: August 25.