Sport - Football

Man United drawn with Celtic

MONTE CARLO: Defending champion Manchester United will face British rival Celtic in the group stage of the Champions League. United will also meet Villarreal and Aalborg in the 32-team phase. The first round is scheduled for September 16 and 17.

United coach Alex Ferguson was relishing defending the trophy and wants points on the board straight away.

“That is a great challenge,” Ferguson said on Thursday.

“The challenge is to make sure you get 10 points as quick as you can. I think we have the squad for it.”

Celtic striker Scott McDonald was thrilled with drawing a defending champion for the second straight year.

“We always love to draw the champion of Europe as we did last year (with FC Barcelona),” said McDonald. “All of those things add up to good things and get us to the next round again. They’re going to be fantastic games.”

Despite clinching the English Premier League and Champions League last season for the second time in his career — he guided United to the treble in 1999 — Ferguson does not consider United to be the favourite.

“You can’t begin to think you’re the favourite when you see teams like Milan, Barcelona, Juventus ... all these great names,” Ferguson said.

Club captain Gary Neville expects the injury-hit squad to be stretched, as it also defends the Premier League title.

“We’ve got a big squad and we’re going to need that with the amount of games we’ve got this season,” he said.

United’s trip to Villarreal in Group E will revive bad memories of striker Wayne Rooney’s sending off there in September 2005 as Alex Ferguson’s side failed to progress into the knockout phase.

Chelsea, which lost May’s final on penalty kicks to the Red Devils, also has a relatively easy Group E, featuring AS Roma, which hosts May’s final at the Stadio Olimpico, Bordeaux and newcomer CFR Cluj.

“Chelsea certainly has a leg up on the other teams in the group, but we have to count on the hard work that we have done in the past few years,” Roma coach Luciano Spalletti said. “We are ready for this challenge.”

Five-time champion Liverpool will meet Marseille for a second straight season, and striker Fernando Torres will return to former club Atletico Madrid. Group D also features PSV Eindhoven.

That means Liverpool’s star striker Fernando Torres, who scored the winner for Spain against Germany in the European Championship final, gets a chance to face his former team, having joined Liverpool from Atletico prior to last season.

“With Fernando and the other Spanish players, there will be huge, huge interest in that one,” Liverpool chief executive Rick Parry said. “It’s great. That’s what makes the Champions League so exciting. It’s fantastic.”

Atletico’s Argentina striker Sergio Aguero, however, said the Liverpool match should not be seen as a contest between him and Torres.

“We’re 11 against 11,” Aguero said. “They have, as well as Torres, very good players, just like we have here.”

Juventus has a tough return to the competition after a two-year absence in Group H. The Italians will have to overcome nine-time champion Real Madrid, UEFA Cup winner Zenit St. Petersburg and Belarussian champion BATE Borisov.

New Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola will be pleased with Group C, which includes Sporting Lisbon, FC Basel and Shakhtar Donetsk.

Inter Milan coach Jose Mourinho, looking to repeat his 2004 Champions League triumph with FC Porto, will have to negotiate Werder Bremen, Panathinaikos and Anorthosis Famagusta in Group B.

Bayern Munich striker Luca Toni will play former club Fiorentina in Group F, which also includes Lyon and Steaua Bucharest.

“Lyon is a tough nut to crack, Fiorentina has its appeal because of Luca Toni,” Bayern Munich coach Juergen Klinsmann.

Arsenal, FC Porto, Fenerbahce and Dynamo Kiev meet in Group G. — AP

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