Manchester United could face a tricky tie against last season’s quarter-finalists Monaco when Friday’s draw for the Champions League play-off is made.
After missing out on European competition entirely last term, Louis van Gaal’s side qualified for the play-off by finishing fourth in the Premier League and will discover who they must beat to progress to the group stages when the draw is made in Switzerland at 11am.
Monaco, who beat Arsenal in last season’s last-16 tie before losing in the last eight to eventual finalists Juventus, cruised past Swiss side Young Boys 7-1 on aggregate on Tuesday to secure their place in the draw.
United, Valencia, Bayer Leverkusen, Shakhtar and Sporting Lisbon are the five seeded teams in the non-champions route, meaning they could also be paired with Lazio, CSKA Moscow, Club Brugge and Rapid Vienna.
The two-leg ties will be played on 18 and 19 August, with United expected to be placed in pot 2 if they qualify.
Celtic’s reward for beating Qarabag 1-0 on aggregate on Wednesday will be a tie against one of Israel’s Maccabi Tel-Aviv, Partizan Belgrade of Serbia, Sweden’s Malmo, FK Astana from Kazakhstan or Albanian champions Skenderbeu Korce.
