United to Face Rangers in European Cup
Here we Go...
By Chris O'Brien
August 29 2003
United will face a 'Battle of Britain' with Scottish Treble winners Glasgow Rangers in this seasons European Cup. United will also take on Panathinaikos and Vfb Stuttgart in the Group Stages of this years competition.
| European Cup Draw Made |
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United will face a 'Battle of Britain' in the Champions
League this season, as they have been drawn in Group E alongside Glasgow
Rangers. Panathanikos and Vfb Stutgart will also take on United in the first stage of this seasons Champions League. United were seeded for the draw in Monaco, and therefore missed other European giants such as Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Juventus, holders AC Milan. Teams from the same league are also prohibited from meeting at this opening stage, so United could not be drawn against Premiership rivals Arsenal or Chelsea. Rangers qualified for the Champions League proper after a hard-fought 3-2 aggregate qualifying match with Copenhagen, with qualification for the Cup a real ease to their financial woes. The top two sides in the group will go through to 'Round of Sixteen', where the surviving clubs will compete in knock-out stages to the final. The is the first time this format has been used with the 32 club European Cup, as previously the remaining 16 clubs went into a second group stage. The complete draw is as follows: Group A Group B Group C Group D Group E Group F Group G Group H |
