Champions League - Arsenal face Celtic in play-off

Arsenal and Celtic will battle it out for a place in the Champions League group stage after being drawn together in the play-off round.

Celtic, who edged Dinamo Moscow in the previous round, will host the first leg against the Gunners, who are entering the fray at the final qualifying stage.

Atletico Madrid must face Panathinaikos while other ties include Lyon v Anderlecht and Sporting Lisbon v Fiorentina.

Rank outsiders Sheriff Tiraspol, who stunned Slavia Prague in the previous round, were drawn against group stage regulars Olympiacos in the meeting of the Moldovan and Greek champions.

The group stage will also feature a club from either Austria or Israel after Salzburg and Maccabi Haifa, the champions of the respective countries, were drawn together.

Latvia or Switzerland will also be represented after FK Ventspils were paired with FC Zurich and one of Bulgaria or Hungary will feature after Levski Sofia were drawn with Debreceni.

UEFA have introduced a new system this season in which teams who are champions of their respective nations are kept apart from non-champion teams.

The system is designed to give the smaller nations a better chance of being represented in the group stage as they do not have to face non-champion teams from countries such as England, Germany, Spain and Italy in the qualifying rounds.

"These new arrangements will mean that we will have at least another five national association champions joining those 13 that have already directly qualified for the group stage," said UEFA general secretary David Taylor.

"The format may be not such a big change compared to past qualifying formats, but it does highlight the 'champions' aspect of the UEFA Champions League.

Sheriff Tiraspol, who beat Finland's International Turku in the second qualifying round, had been hoping for an easier draw.

"We were expecting something a little bit easier such as maybe the Bulgarian outfit," said Sheriff's representative Maxim Wilhelm. "But it's a good chance to show what we can do in the final round."

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE PLAY-OFF DRAW

Champions Path

Sheriff v Olympiakos

Salzburg v Maccabi Haifa

Ventspils v Zurich

Copenhagen v APOEL

Levski Sofia v Debreceni

Non-champions Path

Lyon v Anderlecht

Celtic v Arsenal

Timisoara v Stuttgart

Sporting Lisbon v Fiorentina

Panathinaikos v Atletico Madrid

* First legs to be played on August 18 and 19.

* Second legs to be played on August 25 and 26
Reuters

We'll just have to crush them like we did Rangers

yea! Bring it on !!!