Manchester United will play four time European Champions Ajax Amsterdam while their city rivals Manchester City will meet defending champions FC Porto. The third english side in the competition Stoke City are drawn with Valencia.

Other crunch matches see Rubin Kazan playing Olympiakos , Lazio against 2010 champions Atletico Madrid and Trabzonspor paired with PSV Eindhoven.

ROUND OF 32 FIXTURES

FC Porto v Manchester City

Ajax v Manchester United

Lokomotiv Moscow v Athletic Bilbao

FC Salzburg v Metalist Kharkiv

Stoke City v Valencia

Rubin Kazan v Olympiakos

AZ Alkmaar v Anderlecht

Lazio v Atletico Madrid

Steaua Bucharest v FC Twente

Viktoria Plzen v Schalke

Wisla Krakow v Standard Liege

SC Braga v Besiktas

Udinese v PAOK Salonika

Trabzonspor v PSV Eindhoven

Hannover v Club Brugge

Legia Warsaw v Sporting Lisbon

The round of 32 matches will be played on February 16th and 23rd.

ROUND OF 16 FIXTURES :

FC Salzburg or Metallist KharkivvRubin Kazan or Olympiakos

Legia Warsaw or SportingvPorto or Manchester City

Steaua Bucharest or FC TwentevViktoria Plzen or Schalke

Wisla Krakow or Standard Liege v Hannover or Club Brugge

Stoke or Valencia v Trabzonspor or PSV Eindhoven

AZ Alkmaar or Anderlecht v Udinese or PAOK

Lazio or Atletico Madrid v SC Braga or Besiktas

Ajax or Manchester United v Lokomotiv Moscow or Athletic Bilbao

The matches will take place on 8th and 15th of March 2012

Both the London clubs have got the most difficult draws in the round with the Arsene Wenger and Andres Villas Boas teams battling it out with Italian sides.

Holders Barcelona are paired with German side Bayer Leverkusen who finished below Chelsea in the group round. Barca’s La Liga rivals meanwhile are drawn with CSKA Moscow. Another Russian Club Zenit St. Petersburg will  fancy their chances against  Benfica.

Among the two French sides in the draw Lyon can count themselves lucky with Apoel Nicosia their opponents while Marseille will have to beat 2010 winners Inter Milan to progress to the Quarterfinals.

The 2001 Champions Bayern Munich will face FC Basel.

Lyon v APOEL Nicosia

Napoli v Chelsea

AC Milan v Arsenal

FC Basel v Bayern Munich

Bayer Leverkusen v Barcelona

CSKA Moscow v Real Madrid

Zenit St Peterburg v Benfica

Marseille vInter Milan

First leg matches will be played on 14/15 and 21/22 February. 

Second leg matches will be played on 6/7 and 13/14 March.

Steven Pienaar, Andros Townsend, Jermain Defoe and Harry Kane were on the scoring sheet for North Londoners while Adam Rooney’s goal was enough for Birmingham to win over NK Maribor. But both these sides had to rely on other matches in their group that meant they could not make it to the draw to be held at Nyon later today.

Udinese’s Antonio Di Natale capitalised on a defensive blunder to secure a 1-1 draw at the Stadio Friuli and deny Celtic the away victory they needed to book a place in the knockout stages of the Europa League. For the Bhoys, Gary Hooper took advantage of a mix-up in the Udinese defence to tap in from a yard out .

Radamel Falcao, Alvaro Dominguez and Arda Turan scored for Atletico Madrid as they top Group I.

With Group C also already settled, PSV Eindhoven rounded off their group stage campaign unbeaten with late goals from Stanislav Manolev and Tim Matavz earning a 2-1 win over Rapid Bucharest, who replied through Daniel Pancu.

It was too little too late for Hapoel Tel Aviv, who beat already-qualified Legia Warsaw 2-0 in Israel. Salim Toama and Abihai Yadin won the game for the home side despite Gal Shish’s second half sending-off.

AZ Alkamaar were the third Dutch team to qualify for the next round whenMaher’s equalizer earned them a point after Marko Devic put Metalist Kharkiv ahead in 37th minute.

Club Brugge claimed the point they needed to guarantee qualification as group winners in a 1-1 draw with Braga, who had already secured progression to the knockout stage. Brugge, who knew defeat coupled with a win for Birmingham would see them eliminated, led through Bjorn Vleminckx’s 50th-minute strike. Braga had Uwe Echiejile sent off for a professional foul after 16 minutes but nevertheless equalised in the 64th minute through Ewerton.

Clubs await the draw

Barcelona, InterMilan, Arsenal and Chelsea will find out their opponents in the first knockout round after the draw to be held today at Nyon. The runners up do not include big teams except AC MIlan who finished below Barca. So we may not expect a big clas as early as first knockout round although the likes of Napoli and Basel are teams the group winners will be happy to avoid.

Group winners: Bayern Munich, Inter Milan, Benfica, Real Madrid, Chelsea,Arsenal, APOEL, Barcelona.

Group runners-up: Napoli, CSKA Moscow, Basel, Lyon, Bayer Leverkusen, Marseille, Zenit St Petersburg, AC Milan

Similarly Europa League draw will be held after the UCL draw where both Manchester clubs may not pay as much attention as their premier league rivals Chelsea and Arsenal.

The Europa League Qualifiers:

PAOK FC, Standard Liège, Hannover 96, PSV Eindhoven, Legia Warsaw, Sporting Lisbon, Stoke City, Athletic Bilbao, Metalist Kharkiv, Braga, Atlético Madrid, Schalke 04, Twente, Anderlecht, Lokomotiv Moscow, Lazio, Besiktas, Steaua Bucharest, Salzburg, Wisla Krakow, Rubin Kazan, Club Brugge, Udinese, AZ Alkmaar, Man City, Trabzonspor, Man Utd, Ajax, Valencia, Olympiakos, Porto, Viktoria Plzen.

The round of 32 draw will see the 12 group winners and the four best third-ranked teams from the Champions League group stage drawn against the 12 Europa League runners-up and the four remaining third-ranked teams from the Champions League. Winners and runners-up from the same group cannot face each other, and neither can teams from the same country.

Shamrock Rovers vs Tottenham

Austria Vienna vs Malmo

AZ Alkmaar VS Metalist Kharkiv

Udinese vs Celtic

Birmingham City vs NK Maribor

Rubin Kazan, in second, are three points above Tottenham. To qualify Spurs must win in Dublin [against already-eliminated Shamrock Rovers], hope Rubin lose, and make up a goal difference deficit which currently stands at five. If the two teams finish exactly level on goal difference and goals scored, Tottenham will qualify due to their higher coefficient.

AZ Alkmaar will be hoping that Jozy displays all of this technique and more against Metalist Kharkiv, as the Dutch side will advance with a victory over the Ukrainians. If AZ lose? Third-place Austria Wien will advance if they can beat group laggards Mamlo.

Birmingham City can advance to the next round if they defeat Maribor and if Brugge lose to group leaders SC Braga.

Group B and Group C matches will have no effect on the table standings as both have winners and runners up decided. Standard Liege, Hannover and PSV, Legia Warsaw finished first and second respectively in Group B and C.

Celtic have made the trip to Italy without injured quartet Joe Ledley, Glenn Loovens, Adam Matthew and Kris Commons knowing they must win against Udinese to qualify while Udinese just needs to play a draw to advance. Udinese coach Francesco Guidolin is still in doubts over whether or not to start with Antonio Di Natale.

Let’s have a look at the fixtures for tonight.

Besiktas v Stoke

Dynamo Kiev v Macc Tel-Aviv

FC Zurich v FC Vaslui

Lazio v Sporting

Paris SG v Athletic Bilbao

Slovan Bratislava v Red Bull Salzburg

Anderlecht v Lokomotiv Moscow

Fulham v Odense BK

Maccabi Haifa v Schalke 04

Steaua Bucharest v AEK Larnaca

Sturm Graz v AEK Athens

Wisla Krakow v FC Twente

Sporting Lisbon has already won its group which means the match against Lazio is more or less meaningless.  Lazio will have to win the match and at the same time FC Vaslui has to lose pointsto FC Zurich  if the Italians are to qualify.

Schalke has been confirmed the group winners but all eyes will be on the three remaining teams Maccabi Haifa, Steaua Bucharest and AEK Larnaca as all of them have a chance to qualify. The winners between Steaua and Larnaca will qualify if Maccabi fails to win at home against Schalke.

Second Placed in Group K are Fulham who will be favorites to get all three points over Odense BK. Failing to do so will give Wisla Krakow a chance to qualify if they register a win over group winner FC Twente.

Group E leaders Stoke must avoid defeat at Besiktas to win the group. If they beat their Turkish opponents and Dynamo Kiev win against Maccabi Tel-Aviv the Ukranians can qualify provided they  yield a better goal difference. The matches between Besiktas and Dynamo Kiev had ended on a 1-0 win for the home side.

Both Anderlecht and Lokomotiv Moscow have booked places in the next round, so Wednesday’s clash between the two clubs will determine who wins the group and earns a potentially easier draw in the knockout phase.

Group F sees a fight for the second place between Red Bull Salzburg and Paris Saint Germain. Both are level on points  but PSG have to win against winners Athletic Bilbao  and hope Salzburg drop points if they are to qualify.

With both the Manchesters clubs joining the second string European club competition, this year it looks a bit more exciting and will attract more followers as well.

Bosnia-Hercegovina v Portugal

Portugal may have the slight adge over Bosnia in the paper but host have impressed in the campaign only to be denied by a controversial equaliser frm the spot against France.

Probable eleven :

Bosnia :

Hasagic
Besic, Spahic, Mravac, Jahic
Rahimic, Medunjanin
Pjanic, Misimovic, Lulic
Dzeko

Portugal :

Rui Patricio
Joao Pereira, Bruno Alves, Pepe, Coentrao
Martins, Meireles, Moutinho
Nani, Postiga, Ronaldo

Turkey v Croatia

Will Guus Hiddink’s magic work in this fixture is yet to be seen but home advantage will certainly work in this one.

Probable eleven:

Turkey:

Volkan
G. Gonul, Servet, Egemen, Hakan Balta
Hamit, S. Sahin, S. Inan, Emre, Arda Turan
Burak

Croatia :

Pletikosa
Corluka, Simunic, Vida, Pamic
Srna, Modric, Vukojevic, Perisic
Eduardo, Olic

Czech Republic v Montenegro

 Montenegro recent form will be the concern for their coach as they travel to Czech Republic. Czech may well come out victorious in this match.

Probable eleven:

Czech Republic:

Cech
Sivok, Selassie, R. Hubnik, Kadlec
Matejovsky, Kolar
Jiracek, Rosicky, Plasil
Baros

Montenegro :

M. Bozovic
Zverotic, Dzudovic, Savic, V. Bozovic
Pekovic, Kascelan
Vukcevic, Jovetic, Boskovic
Vucinic

Estonia v Rep of Ireland

ireland coach Giovanni Trapattoni is likely to call on Jonathan Walters to partner Robbie Keane up front. Estonia, the runners up of Group C behind Italy will be a happier side if they grab a point agains the Ireland.

Probable eleven:

Estonia:

The most impressive performance tonight was from another Asian giant Japan as they thrashed Tajikistan by four goals to nil. Yasuyuki KONNO gave the Blue Samurai a 36th minute lead before Ryoichi MAEDA’s goal was sandwiched between Shinji OKAZAKI brace.

Jordan continued their 100 percent start in group A after 2-0 win over Singapore while  José Antonio Camacho saw his Chinese team lose Iraq. Iraq are second with 9 points and China have just 3 from 4 matches.

Group E looks to be the most interesting as Iran and Qatar have 8 points from 4 matches while Bahrain have 5. Qatar, 4-0 winners over Indonesia, benefited from a 1-1 draw between Bahrain and Iran.

Australia, despite suffering a 1-0 loss to leads the Group D with 9 points but there is a fierce competiotion between remaining three teams. Saudi Arabia are second with points after 3-0 win over . Thailand and both have 4.

The qualifying campaign is in its third stage that consists of 5 groups of 4 teams with the top 2 in each group advancing to 2 groups of 5 that will play a further group stage during 2012. The top two teams in each group qualify for the 2014 finals directly, with the two third-placed teams engaging in a play-off tie for a chance to qualify via a further inter-confederation qualifying tie.

Manchester City had punished the Argentine striker for his refusal to play as a substitute in the loss against Bayern Munich with a fine of four weeks’ wages, said to be between  £800,000 and £1,000,000 saying there were five separate breaches of contract in the UEFA Champions League encounter in September.

Tevez insists he only refused to warm up and his advisors have told the they believe that none of the five reasons given by City for upholding the charge of misconduct – which the club published on their website – are correct.

PFA chief Gordon Taylor has issued a statement that insists Tevez has been cleared of the accusation that he refused to come of the bench for Manchester City in the Champions League at Bayern Munich, and as such should not incur an additional two-week fine.

The PFA statement reads: “Gordon Taylor attended the hearing with Carlos Tevez on October 21 and was privy to all the evidence presented to the hearing and Carlos’ response.

“The PFA’s opinion, based on all the evidence presented, is that Carlos Tevez never refused to play for the club,” reads the statement.

“This is accepted by the club in that the charge against Carlos made at the hearing was not one of refusing to play.

“As such the PFA considers that there is no justification for a fine other than up to the prescribed sanction of two weeks’ wages agreed by the FA, the Premier League and PFA.

“The PFA has informed the Manchester City Football Club accordingly and Carlos will continue to be supported by the PFA in this regard.”

The Nepali team under former Tottenham legend Graham Roberts will look to get at least a draw ahead of the return leg at Dasarath Stadium in Kathmandu on 28th  of July. Nepal had beaten East Timor 7-1 on aggregate in their first qualifying play off as their coach thinks the team morale is on a high.

“We´ll give our best in Jordan. I have no doubt, the boys will put in their 150 percent effort on the ground,” Roberts gave his assurance that the team won´t come back with poor result from Jordan.“We´ll return from Jordan with good result and we´ll beat them here next week,” claimed the 53-year-old Briton.

In the World Cup qualifiers, Asia’s 16 lowest ranked teams (based on their 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification record) played home-and-away matches with the winners advancing to Round 2 to join 22 higher ranked teams in home-and-away matches from July 23 to 28.

The winners from Round 2 will join the top five direct entrants (Japan, South Korea, North Korea, Australia and Bahrain) in Round 3 where they will be divided into five groups of four teams each.

Players to watch

Nepal:
Rohit Chand(Defender), Bharat Khawas(Midfielder), Jumanu Rai(Striker)

Jordan:

Hatem Aqeel(Defender), Hassan Abdel Fattah(Midfielder), Abdullah Deeb(Striker)

Check out the list of  qualifying matches  in the Asian Qualifying Zone

Thailand v Palestine

Turkmenistan vs Indonesia

Lebanon vs Bangladesh

Iraq vs Yemen

Syria vs Tajikistan

Oman vs Malaysia

Iran vs Maldives

Qatar vs Vietnam

Uzbekistan vs Kyrgzystan

We will keep u posted once the first leg will finish. Wait for the in depth review.

Arsenal began their pre-season campaign Wednesday with a 4-0 win over Malaysia XI and they hope to have another solid display before they wrap up their tour. They will play Chinese club side Hangzhou Greentown at 7PM local time. Liverpool’s match against Malaysia All-Stars XI is set to kick off at 5.45 PM local time in Kualalumpur.

Chelsea will play Portsmouth at Fratton Park at 3PM local time before they travel to Asia for their two tour matches agains Malaysia All Star XI and Thailand All Stars.

San Francisco will host a friendly match between Club America and Manchester City at 8Pm ET. Vladimir Weiss, John Guidetti and Gael Clichy are likely to start for the FA cup champions.

Sweden will play France in the third place play off in the Women’s World Cup later today. The final will be played tomorrow between Japan and Brazil.