Newcastle have been drawn to face Sporting Lisbon, Sochaux, Panionios and Dinamo Tbilisi in the UEFA Cup group stage.

Today’s first round draw in Monaco paired eircom League side Shelbourne, whose quest to reach the Champions League was ended on Tuesday by Deportivo la Coruna, against French League side Lille.

Real Madrid’s director of sport Emilio Butragueno and Patrick Vieira’s agent Steve Kutner both distanced themselves tonight with any possibility that the France midfielder will make a £22m (€33.3m) switch to the Spanish giants.

Patrick Vieira’s agent tonight played down speculation that the Arsenal midfielder is poised to make a €33m switch to Real Madrid.

Arsenal’s bid to sign Tunisian right back Hatem Trabelsi from Ajax is on the brink of collapse – as manager Arsene Wenger continues to insist Patrick Vieira will not be leaving the Gunners.

ARSENE WENGER admits the speculation surrounding Patrick Vieira's future is overshadowing Arsenals' pre-season preparations, but will continue talks with the French midfielder in a bid to keep him at Highbury.

Arsene Wenger admits the speculation surrounding Patrick Vieira’s future is overshadowing Arsenals’ pre-season preparations, but will continue talks with the French midfielder in a bid to keep him at Highbury.

Arsenal will embark on a three-match tour of Slovenia and Austria in preparation for the defence of their Premiership title.

The complete draw for the first and second qualifying rounds of the UEFA Champions League has been made today.

Eircom League champions Shelbourne must travel to Malta to play Hibernians following the Champions League first round qualifying draw in Geneva today.