Manchester United to Play Club Brugge in Champions League Playoffs

On Friday, 7 August, the draw for the upcoming UEFA Champions League took place and the team pairings were announced. Following one year's absence from the Champions League, after they finished fourth in the Premier League last season, this year Manchester United will play against Belgian team Club Brugge. [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hy4h1kIlgLY[/embed] Louis van Gaal, Manchester United's coach, who played against Brugge during his time in Barcelona, and had also played for Antwerp for a while, is reported to have said, "'It will be an interesting tie…Brugge are a good side, they reached the quarterfinals of the Europa League and finished second in the Belgian League last season.'' Nevertheless, this is considered a very good draw for United, as it means avoiding Monaco, Lazio, or CSKA Moscow, against whom playing would have been more challenging. John Alexander, Manchester United's secretary said: "Belgian football is right at the very top and we have two Belgian players in the squad who keep us abreast of what's going on there. We go into any game with confidence. We'd like to think we can win the competition." United's Previous History with Belgian Clubs Manchester United have played Belgian clubs before. They've even won several matches against Belgian opponents (including an incredible 10-0 victory over Anderlecht in the 1956-57 European Cup), but never Club Brugge. Club Brugge were runners-up in the Belgian Pro League in the 2014-15 season and beat Panathinaikos 4-2 on aggregate round. After finishing second in Belgium's top flight last season, Club Brugge is hoping to reach the group stage this year, for the first time since 2005-06. The first leg will take place in Old Trafford (Manchester) on 18 August, and the second one at the Jan Breydel Stadium (Bruges) on 26 August. Valencia Meets Monaco; Celtic Meets Malmö Several more interesting pairings have been drawn on Friday. Valencia, who has also had a one-year break from the Champions League, will be playing Monaco. If Valencia win this playoff, Spain will be the first nation to ever have five clubs in the group stage. The first leg will take place on 19 August and the second on 25 August. Celtic will be playing Malmö, which probably won't be easy, as the Swedish Club beat Red Bull Salzburg 3-2 on aggregate in the 3^rd qualifying round. The first leg will take place on 19 August and the second on 25 August. Here is full draw for the Champions League: League route Lazio (ITA) v Bayer Leverkusen (GER) – 18 and 26 August Manchester United (ENG) v Club Brugge (BEL) – 18 and 26 August Sporting CP (POR) v CSKA Moskva (RUS) – 18 and 26 August Rapid Wien (AUT) v Shakhtar Donetsk (UKR) – 19 and 25 August Valencia (ESP) v AS Monaco (FRA) – 19 and 25 August Champions route Astana (KAZ) v APOEL (CYP) – 18 and 26 August Skënderbeu (ALB) v Dinamo Zagreb (CRO) – 19 and 25 August Celtic (SCO) v Malmö (SWE) – 19 and 25 August FC Basel (SUI) v Maccabi Tel-Aviv (ISR) – 19 and 25 August BATE Borisov (BLR) v Partizan (SRB) – 18 and 26 August