Good European draw for Celtic

Celtic were handed what seems to be a fairly straightforward route to the final qualifying round for the Champions League when the draw for the competition in Geneva yesterday handed the Scottish club opposition from either Lithuania or the Faroe Islands in the second round.

Neither Lithuanian outfit Kaunus nor HB Torshavn should seriously trouble Martin O'Neill's side although the manager will keep a close eye on the games between the two which will take place on July 16th and 23rd, with the Scots taking on the winners of the tie away from home a week after the second leg.

In recent meetings between Old Firm clubs and teams from Lithuania, the Scots have progressed very easily, with Celtic overwhelming FK Suduva 10-1 over two games in the UEFA Cup last season while Rangers had a similarly one-sided win against Kaunus three seasons back.

The Scottish national team has twice drawn away to the Faroe Islands but it is still hard to imagine the Glasgow giants emerging with anything other than a rather easy win if they were to meet the semi-professionals.

"At this stage, you must expect to be drawn against some unknown quantities and I don't know much about either of these two sides," admitted Celtic midfielder Neil Lennon yesterday.

"But we did play Lithuanian opposition last year and coped pretty well. The important thing is to treat every side with respect and we will certainly do that."

Eircom League champions Bohemians face a tough trip to Belarus in the opening qualifying round of the competition, meanwhile, after they were drawn against Bate Borisov, who have performed impressively on the European stage in recent seasons.

"It's probably not what we would have been looking for when we came out here," said the Bohemians club secretary Gerry Cuffe in Geneva yesterday. "But you have to take what you get from the Champions League draw and we're not complaining.

"The fact that we've played in the country before (against Dinamo Minsk in 1996 when Bohemians lost on away goals) will help because we will know a little bit about the preparations that we have to make.

"The hope will be that the preparations will go well and that we can go out there, do the business, and bring the tie back to Dublin in a strong position."

If they survive the tie Bohemians will earn a far more attractive meeting with Rosenborg of Norway in the second round, a prospect that clearly delighted Cuffe, but the Dubliners could have been more fortunate with the first round draw.

Last season, Borisov reached the third round of the InterToto cup after beating Danish opposition in the first round and 1860 Munich 4-0 in the second. They eventually went out of the competition to Bologna despite drawing against the Italians at home.

In the previous year's UEFA Cup they comfortably beat Dinamo Tbilisi before losing to AC Milan.

Manchester City's debut in the UEFA Cup has been made all the easier by the club drawing Welsh minnows TNS Llansantffraid in the qualifying round.

The Republic's two representatives in the competition were handed first round trips to Cyprus and Slovenia, with Derry City scheduled to face APOEL Nicosia and Shelbourne travelling to Olimpija Ljubljana.

"Obviously they're going to be tough games," said Derry City chairman Jim Roddy yesterday, "but after seeing the four teams we could have been drawn against this morning (the group included Steaua Bucharest) these are definitely the ones we would have been hoping to play."

APOEL narrowly missed out on the group stages of the Champions League a couple of seasons ago when they beat Slovenia's Maribor in the second round but then lost 4-2 to AEK Athens in the final knock-out stage. In last season's UEFA Cup they beat Grazer AK of Austria before being eliminated by Hertha Berlin.

Maribor, as it happens, have just won the Slovenian league for the seventh successive season and one of the teams that have grown used to living in their shadow at this stage are Olimpija, the nation's cup winners in the season just ended.

"From a logistical point of view it's not a bad draw for us but on the football front we don't really know a whole lot about them, so the aim now will be to change that," said Shelbourne manager Pat Fenlon yesterday.

"If there is an opportunity to see them play then I'll head over there but if not then it will be a question of getting as many videos together as we can and talking to people who know a bit about them."