Manchester United will look to avoid the likes of Monaco and Lazio when the UEFA Champions League 2015 playoff draw comes into play in Switzerland on Friday.
Louis Van Gaal's men finished fourth last season in the Premier League, giving them a chance to make the group stages of the Champions League via the playoffs, after missing out on participating in the European competition owing to a seventh-place finish in the 2013-14 season.
Getting to the Champions League was priority number one for Manchester United when Van Gaal took over, and having taken the first step with the league finish, the more important one will come to the fore once the draw bobbles out the team that the Premier League club will face.
Apart from Monaco and Lazio, Manchester United could also draw Club Brugge, CSKA Moscow or Rapid Vienna, and you feel out of those five teams, the side that Van Gaal will be most comfortable playing will be Rapid Vienna.
Club Brugge also will not be that bad a draw, but Manchester United will, no doubt, want to avoid CSKA Moscow, owing to the long trip and the relative strength of the Russian side, Monaco and Lazio.
Monaco reached the quarterfinals of the Champions League last season, knocking Arsenal out in the last 16, before narrowly losing to Juventus, the eventual finalists, in the last eight.
Monaco also showed they mean business in the third qualifying round, thumping Swiss club Young Boys 4-0 in the second leg to go through 7-1 on aggregate.
Even if they have seen most of their star signings like James Rodriguez and Radamel Falcao leave of late, there is no doubting the talent in this Monaco side.
Lazio is another potential banana skin Manchester United will want to avoid stepping on, with the Italians capable of the spectacular on their day.
Some of the other big teams waiting to learn their Champions League playoff fate via the draw include Valencia, who will look to become the fifth La Liga team to qualify for the UCL this season, Celtic and Bayer Levekusen.
After the Champions League playoff draw, the Europa League playoff draw will also take place, with 44 teams vying for a position in the main stage of the competition.
The most eye-catching of those teams are Borussia Dortmund, Ajax, Southampton and Athletic Bilbao.
Champions League Playoff Draw teams: Automatic entrants via their respective leagues: Valencia, Manchester United, Bayer Leverkusen, Lazio, Sporting Lisbon.
Third qualifying round winners via league route: Monaco, Rapid Vienna, Club Brugge, CSKA Moscow, Shakhtar Donetsk.
Third qualifying round winners via champions route: APOEL, Astana, BATE Borisov, Celtic, Dinamo Zagreb, FC Basel, Partizan, Malmo, Maccabi Tel-Aviv, Skenderbeu.
Europa League Playoff Draw teams: Borussia Dortmund, Ajax, Rubin Kazan, Athletic Club, AZ Alkmaar, FC Salzburg, FC Viktoria Plzen, PAOK FC, Steaua Bucharest, Young Boys, Sparta Prague, Fenerbahce, Standard de Liege, Legia Warsaw, Bordeaux, Panathinaikos, Lech Poznan, Saint-Etienne, Southampton, Slovan Liberec, FC Krasnodar, CS Os Belenenses, Rosenborg, Qarabag, Hajduk Split, HJK Helsinki, Atromitos, Zorya Luhansk, Molde, FC Thun, Astra Giurgiu, FK Jablonec, Dinamo Minsk, MSK Zilina, Midtjylland, Videoton, Brondby, FK Vojvodina, SCR Altach, FK Rabotnicki, Milsami Orhei, Odds BK, Qabala FK, FC Kairat Almaty.
Where to Watch Live
Get the full list of matches from the Champions League Playoff Draw HERE
The Champions League Playoff Draw is scheduled for a 12 pm CET (3.30 pm IST, 7 am ET, 11 am BST) start, with the Europa League playoff draw starting an hour later.
Live coverage of the Champions League draw and who Manchester United will play will be on Ten Action in India and Fox Sports 1 in the US.
Audience around the world, including India, US and the UK, can watch the draw unfold via online live streaming on UEFA.com.
