The UEFA Champions League 2014 playoff draw is out and now the schedule has matches set and the Arsenal Gunners come in matched up with Besiktas from Turkey, while other teams like Celtic, Bayer Leverkusen, Athletic Bilbao, FC Copenhagen, Lille and Zenit St Petersburg have their playoffs games set up for the tournament and these will be big games before the group play part of the tourney starts up later this year.
Real Madrid comes into the Champions League this season as defending champs and now Arsenal will get the chance to advance from the playoff round after qualifying from the Premier League. Arsenal finished behind Man City, Liverpool and Chelsea last year in the EPL and now they have a tough match against a Turkish club, but they should be favored in that one. The team has added Alexis Sanchez this summer and the Gunners are ready to make a move in the UCL and EPL this year.
Real Madrid and the other top teams will not be in action until all this shakes out and Arsenal is the top team in this round and they have the chance to keep things going. The team is into the Champions League for the 14th straoght season and that is very impressive and now Celtic will also be in this playoff round despite losing their match, as UEFA ruled the Legia Warsaw had an ineligible player and now they will be into the round. Celtic now will matchup with Maribor from Slovenia and that could be a favorable matchup for the team.
The Europa League also had their draw and Tottenham is in there and will play AEL Limassol, while Hull City will play against Lokeren. Celtic comes in as the Scottish champs and they have a chance to make things up after losing bad in qualifying and some of the other matches include Athletic Bilbao taking on Napoli, while Bayer will play against FC Copenhagen in their matchup. The games will be in over a week and are scheduled for August 19 and 20 and then the second leg matches will be played after that.
Hull City is playing in the Europa and they are into a Euro tourney for the first time after being the finalist in the FA Cup and they have the chance to move along and Everton is already into the group stage in that tournament. Arsenal had a strong start to the season in the Premier League and they were near the top of the standings for a while before falling out after Christmas and now Arsene Wenger and company will try and get things done in both leagues this year and the team has very high expectations.
Check here for the UEFA Champions League playoff draw and schedule with matchups.