Champions League draw: Man Utd v Club Brugge, Celtic v Malmo

There will be no easy games despite it being early stages of the Champions League as teams vie to compete on the biggest stage of all.

United are somewhat in flux.

United will no longer be able to count on Angel di Maria after he completed his £44.3million move to Paris St Germain on Thursday. A failure to progress will see them miss out on the Europe’s elite club competition for a second seasons in a row.

It has been a hard decade for the Blauw-Zwart.

Coached by former Belgium goalkeeper Michel Preud’homme, Bruges has current and historic form in UEFA competitions.

Manchester United and Celtic were both handed favourable draws in this morning’s UEFA Champions League playoff round draw. These included the injured goalscoring midfielder Lior Refaelov, left winger Jose Izquierdo and their vice-captain, Masia graduate Victor Vazquez.

How did they get on last season? Club Brugge, the 1978 finalist, finished second last term.

Scottish champions Celtic, European Cup winners in 1967, will play Swedish counterparts Malmo as they attempt to make up for last season’s disappointing playoff round defeat against Maribor.

“Things did not turn out well for me at Manchester United for many reasons, but that is the past”, said Di Maria, whose Cheshire home was the subject of an attempted burglary in February.

First-leg matches will be played on August 18/19 with the resturn games on August 25/26. That report also mentions ongoing discussions with Barcelona over forward Pedro Rodriguez. And Giggs can not wait for United to be part of the action again. They will be pleased to have been drawn against the Belgians but can not afford to be too happy.

The Belgians will not be a walkover by any stretch, but considering the opposition Wayne Rooney and his teammates could have faced, the difficulty Van Gaal’s side will now face is significantly reduced.