It’s FC Twente v Arsenal on August 12 or 13.
So Steve McClaren faces his pal Arsene Wenger.
They know each other well because England trained so often at London Colney.
Other highlights of today’s draw in Nyon :
Standard Liege v Liverpool
Schalke v Atletico Madrid .
Full third qualifying round draw
Juventus v Tampere/Artmedia
Barcelona v Beitar Jerusalem/Wisla Krakow
Famagusta/Rapid Vienna v Olympiacos
Vitoria Guimaraes v IFK Gothenburg/FC Basle
Shakhtar Donetsk v NK Domzale/Dinamo Zagreb
Schalke v Atlético Madrid
Aalborg/FK Modrica v Rangers/Kaunas
Levski Sofia v Anderlecht/BATE
Standard Liege v Liverpool
Inter Baku/FK Partizan v Fenerbahce/MTK Budapest
FC Twente v Arsenal
Spartak Moscow v Drogheda/Dynamo Kyiv
Brann/Ventspils v Marseille
Fiorentina v Slavia Prague
Galatasaray v Steaua Bucharest
Panathinaikos/Dinamo Tbilisi v Sheriff Tiraspol/Sparta Prague
So English clubs have been lucky in the draw.
FC Twente finished fourth in the Dutch league after beating Ajax in a play-off.
Arsenal Secretary David Miles was interviewed by Sky Sports. He said Holland is quite easy logistically and he hopes lots of Arsenal fans will travel to the first leg. Asked about the appointment of new CEO, Miles said he expected his new boss to be in place in September.
Emirates Cup ?
I watched Borussia Dortmund play Juventus last week and Juve looked solid. As always, they mixed it up. They pass sideways in midfield more than Arsenal, but also hit penetrating long passes too, testing you out. And they hit diagonal crosses to the far post. Two years ago Thuram used to launch 70-yard missiles for Ibrahimovic to lay off for Del Piero.
After seven years at Aston Villa, Olof Mellberg has been signed to partner 23-year old Giorgio Chiellini at centreback.
New striker Amauri scored the first goal, Nedved made the second. He flighted a ball from the left flank, a right-footed cross, giving Iaquinta had a free header for 2-0. Then the unmarked Iaquinta pulled down a Route 1 pass sweetly and lobbed the keeper for 3-0. Borussia Dortmund got a goal back but they had been outclassed. Juventus controlled the game and took their chances.
Combative winger Pavel Nedved will be 36 on August 30 and this could be his last season. He was signed for £25m when Zidane was sold to Real Madrid for £45m. The Czech played 61 minutes against Dortmund but I wouldn’t fancy him against Sagna these days.
2001 was the summer when it was reported that Italian clubs had spent £600m (??!!) in 10 weeks.
Juventus signed Thuram (£23m), Nedved (£25m) and Buffon (£35m). Cassano, a teenager, went to Roma for £20m. Milan signed Rui Costa for £28m and Inzaghi for £26m. They all spent too much money. The biggest flop was Mendietta to Lazio for £29m.
Juventus now have versatile little Bosnian Hasan Salihamidic, who has been playing in the Bundesliga since 1995.He had three seasons at Hamburg and nine at Bayern Munich before moving to Juve in 2007. Former Liverpool midfielder Sissoko gives them running power and bite in midfield.
The most obvious difference between Juventus and Arsenal is that they have four experienced strikers in Trezeguet (30), Del Piero (33), Iaquinta (28) and Amauri (28), a Brazilian-born player who scored 23 in 52 for Palermo. Since Juventus signed Amauri for £18m there have been suggestions that Iaquinta may be sold.
So tomorrow sees London’s most popular club play Italy’s most popular club. An interesting test for both teams.
As a pre-season tournaments go. the Emirates Cup is a good one. And the Ajax tournament is another good one. Results do not mean much but Arsenal will still want to win on Saturday and Sunday. Arsene put out a very strong side against Stuttgart, as he promised to do, and they played really well.
Having said that, players are at various stages of sharpness, and everyone knows that these are training games. Adebayor was way off the pace against Stuttgart. Looked very rusty. Similarly, Fernando Torres was way off the pace when Liverpool drew 0-0 in Villarreal.
For Claudio Ranieri it will be nice to be back in London, despite the way he was treated by Kenyon & Abramovich. His players will enjoy playing on a nice pitch in front of a big crowd.
On Sunday, it’s Real Madrid, who have not forgotten losing to Arsenal in 2006. Bernd Schuster was not the manager then. Madrid have much more bite these days. President Florentino Perez and his galacticos are ancient history.
Madrid have apparently admitted defeat in their pursuit of Cristiano Ronaldo and signed Rafael van der Vaart from Hamburg for £7m. He will be presented as a Real Madrid player on Monday.
So will he play for Hamburg against Real at the Emirates tomorrow? Let’s wait and see on that one.