Manchester United draw Club Brugge in play-off round, Celtic to face Swedish champions Malmo

United coach Louis van Gaal could have faced tougher assignments in his quest to restore the three-time times winners (1968, 1999 and 2008) to the group stage of Europe's premier competition.

United were seeded for the draw, and avoided Monaco, Lazio and CSKA Moscow. Club Brugge are Belgian champions, and reached the final stage of qualifying by overturning a 2-1 defeat at Greek side Panathinaikos in the first leg to progress with a 3-0 home win at the Jan Breydel Stadion on Wednesday.

United come directly in at the play-off stage and were seeded in the non-champions route having finished fourth in the Premier League last season.

Celtic were handed a match with Malmo, a side who have overcome Scottish sides Rangers and Hibernian in recent times, but it is not a meeting that should fill the Glasgow side with too much trepidation against a team struggling for form in their domestic league.

Ronny Deila's team were one of five seeded teams in the UEFA-devised champions route of the draw, having beaten Azerbaijan champions Qarabag 1-0 on aggregate in the third qualifying round and Icelandic champions Stjarnan in the second round of qualifying.

Malmo recovered from trailing 2-0 against Red Bull Salzburg in the first leg of the third qualifying round to complete a rousing 3-0 win in the second leg in securing their progress. But they are sixth in the Swedish table after 18 matches with eight wins, seven draws and three losses in facing a struggle to qualify for European competition next season.

The ties will be played over two legs on August 18/19 and August 25/26.

Lazio v Bayer Leverkusen

Manchester United v Club Brugge

Sporting v CSKA Moscow

Rapid Vienna v Shakhtar Donetsk

Valencia v Monaco

Astana v Apoel

Skenderbeu v Dinamo Zagreb

Basel v Maccabi Tel Aviv

BATE v Partizan

Celtic v Malmo