YESTERDAY'S Uefa Cup draw threw up the possibility of an all-English clash in the last 16 if Aston Villa and Tottenham can knock out CSKA Moscow and Shakhtar Donetsk respectively in the last 32.
The other English representatives 0in the competition, Manchester City, will face FC Copenhagen with a possible meeting with Deportivo La Coruna awaiting the winners.
Both Villa and Spurs have their work cut out to engineer an English head-to-hea
d. CSKA Moscow won the tournament in 2005 and Villa manager Martin O'Neill said: "We could have had easier ties, if there is such a thing. But we're into the final 32, which is where we wanted to be when we set out.
"It's not until February so I'll get my head around it closer to the time."
Tottenham's draw is similarly uncomfortable – Shakhtar Donetsk drop down from the Champions League where they finished third in their group, but achieved decent results including victory over Barcelona in the Nou Camp.
Should City progress past Copenhagen they could face further Danish opposition after they were drawn to play either Aalborg or Deportivo La Coruna in the round of 16. Aalborg of course condemned Celtic to the foot of their Champions League group with a draw at Celtic Park and a 2-1 home win over Gordon Strachan's side.
Holders Zenit St Petersburg will face a trip to Germany after they were drawn to play Stuttgart. On their way to last season's title Dick Advocaat's side overcame German outfits Bayer Leverkusen, in the quarter-finals, and then Bayern Munich in the last four before beating Rangers 2-0 in the final.
In what proved a tough draw for the German sides Werder Bremen were paired against favourites AC Milan while Wolfsburg face Paris St Germain, who booked their place last night with a 4-0 rout of FC Twente. Martin Jol will take his Hamburg side to his homeland with a tie against NEC Nijmegen while their Dutch rivals Ajax face Fiorentina, who were beaten in the semi-finals last season.
Steve McClaren's Twente will also face a Champions League team in the form of Marseille.
Other notable ties include Dynamo Kiev against Valencia and Standard Liege versus Braga while Bordeaux will play Galatasaray, who will be hoping to maintain a Turkish presence in the competition with the final to be played in Istanbul.
UEFA CUP LAST 32 DRAW
Paris St Germain v Wolfsburg
FC Copenhagen v Manchester City
NEC Nijmegen v Hamburg
Sampdoria v Metalist Kharkiv
Braga v Standard Liege
Aston Villa v CSKA Moscow
Lech Poznan v Udinese
Olympiacos v St Etienne
Fiorentina v Ajax
Aalborg v Deportivo La Coruna
Werder Bremen v AC Milan
Bordeaux v Galatasaray
Dynamo Kiev v Valencia
Zenit St Petersburg v Stuttgart
Marseille v FC Twente
Shakhtar Donetsk v Tottenham
Ties to be played on 18 and 19 February and 26 February.
The full article contains 490 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
