Blackburn face tough draw

Celtic and Blackburn face a potential ‘Battle of Britain’ showdown in the second round of the UEFA Cup.

UEFA have today comprised four groups of 12 teams ahead of tomorrow’s draw, with each group containing six seeded and six non-seeded clubs.

Martin O’Neill’s reigning Scottish Premier League champions, who are seeded, and Graeme Souness’ non-seeded Rovers now have a one-in-six chance of being paired together when the draw proper gets underway at 11am in Geneva.

Should the two teams meet, Souness would be guaranteed a hot reception from the Celtic fans following his long association with Glasgow rivals Rangers, where he was both player and manager.

The other five non-seeded clubs Celtic could face are Vitesse of Holland, Viking of Norway – who knocked out Chelsea in the first round last week - Denizlispor from Turkey, Austria Vienna and National Bucuresti from Romania.

Blackburn, meanwhile, will be handed a tough draw whoever they face as the other seeds in group four are Celta Vigo, Porto, Paris St Germain, Sparta Prague and Werder Bremen.

Tournament favourites Leeds, who only scraped through to the second round following a 2-1 aggregate victory over Ukrainian minnows Metalurg Zaporizhia last week, face the prospect of a return trip to Zurich to face Grasshopper.

Leeds met the Swiss club in the third round last season, winning 4-3 overall, with the 2-1 triumph at the Hardturm Stadium their only away victory from their last eight European trips.

Other potential opponents from group three include Rangers’ conquerors from last week in Czech side Viktoria Zizkov, Hapoel Tel-Aviv of Israel, Legia Warsaw from Poland, Bulgaria’s Levski Sofia and Djurgerdens of Sweden.

Fulham, who have progressed after coming through the Intertoto Cup, are among the non-seeded teams in group two and could be drawn against Parma, Alaves, Sparta Prague, Anderlecht, Dinamo Zagreb and Hertha Berlin, who defeated Aberdeen in the first round.

Ipswich, struggling in the First Division since their relegation from the Premiership last season, are seeded in group one and will face either Slovan Liberec of the Czech Republic, Fenerbahce from Turkey, Crvena Zvezda of Yugoslavia, Amica Wronki from Poland, Hungary’s Ferencvaros or Anorthosis Famagusta of Cyprus.