Champions League Playoff Draws Completed: Man City Face Steaua Bucharest; Celtic Meet Hapoel Beer Sheva

Manchester City will play Romanian club Steaua Bucharest in the Champions League playoff round, according to draws made early Friday.

Champions League Playoff Draws Completed

Scottish champions Celtic will face Israeli team Hapoel Beer Sheva, while Irish champions Dundalk have been matched up against Polish club Legia Warsaw.

Celic defeated Kazakh team FC Astana in the third qualifying round, while Dundalk beat Belarusian side Bate Borisov 3-1.

The two-legged play-off ties will be held on August 16/17 and 23/24.

Dundalk’s home tie has been moved from their 4,500-capacity Oriel Park home to the Aviva Stadium, which can hold almost 52,000 fans. Manager Stephen Kenny said: “We’re delighted that our next game will be at the Aviva Stadium.

“The players want to play on the biggest stage and in the national stadium. What we dream of in this League to play in the Aviva Stadium and to have it full — that does not happen very often.”

New Man City manager Pep Guardiola has won the Champions League twice as a boss– with Barcelona in both 2009 and 2011.

The Spaniard has lost in the semifinals of the competition in each of the past four seasons, once with Barca and three times with Bayern Munich.

The English club is seeking to compete in the group stages of the competition for the sixth consecutive season.

Steaua, who won the European Cup in 1986 and came in second in 1989, finished as the runner-up behind Astra Giurgiu in the Romanian top flight.

City sporting director Txiki Begiristain said: “It’s going to be a difficult tie because Steaua are on the up again in Europe and have a lot of talent.”

City face Sunderland in the Premier League a week from Sunday before flying to Bucharest.

“It is right in at the deep end, with three massive games and ones in which we will try to get the result,” said 21-year-old Man City midfielder Raheem Sterling of his team’s draw.

“It is a good draw for us, but I think it will be a difficult one, away first. For them (Steaua) to be in that draw must mean they are a top team.

“Over the coming week, the manager will definitely show us more on them, so there is loads of homework to do in preparation for the game.”

Manchester City finished fourth in the Premier League last season.

Porto of Portugal, the 2004 winners, will find a challenging opponent in Italy’s Roma, and 1995 winners Ajax of the Netherlands will play Russian side Rostov.

The winners of the ties will advance to the Champions League group stage, while the losers will drop into the Europa League.

Here are the full draw results:

Ludogorets Razgrad (Bulgaria) v FC Viktoria Plzen (Czech Republic)

Celtic (Scotland) v Hapoel Beer-Sheva (Israel)

FC Copenhagen (Denmark) v Apoel Nicosia (Cyprus)

Dundalk (Republic of Ireland) v Legia Warsaw (Poland)

Dinamo Zagreb (Croatia) v FC Salzburg (Austria)

Steaua Bucharest (Romania) v Manchester City (England)

FC Porto (Portugal) v Roma (Italy)

Ajax (Netherlands) v Rostov (Russia)

Young Boys (Switzerland) v Borussia Monchengladbach (Germany)

Villarreal (Spain) v Monaco (France)

SHENZHEN, CHINA – JULY 28: Team of Manchester City celebrates after Sergio Aguero scores the first goal during the 2016 International Champions Cup match between Manchester City and Borussia Dortmund at Shenzhen Universiade Stadium on July 28, 2016 in Shenzhen, China. (Photo by Lintao Zhang/Getty Images)

Article by Pablo Mena