Napoli, Athletic Bilbao to go head to head in Champions League playoff

Napoli are drawn against Athletic Bilbao in the playoff round of the Champions League.

Published: August 8 2014 | 11:39

Last updated: August 8 2014 | 15:29

The Champions League playoff round has drawn up an interesting tie between Napoli and Athletic Bilbao.

The third-placed Serie A side from last season, who are led by manager Rafael Benitez, will face the Spanish team for the first time in a competitive fixture.

The duo will fight for a place in the group phase of the elite competition, with Napoli welcoming Bilbao to San Paolo on August 19/20 and then flying to Spain for the return leg a week later.

Meanwhile, Arsenal have been drawn against Turkish side Besiktas, while Celtic will face Maribor after they were reinstated into the competition after Legia Warsaw were thrown out for fielding an ineligible player in the qualifying round.

Champions League playoff draw in full:

League Route

Besiktas vs. Arsenal
Standard Liege vs. Zenit St Petersburg
FC Copenhagen vs. Bayer Leverkusen
Lille vs. Porto
Napoli vs. Athletic Bilbao

Champions Route

Maribor vs. Celtic
Salzburg vs. Malmo
Aalborg vs. APOEL Nicosia
Steaua Bucharest vs. Ludogorets
Slovan Bratislava vs. BATE Borisov

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Premier League Table

	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	PTS
1	Napoli	13	9	2	2	20	9	11	29
2	Atalanta BC Atalanta	13	9	1	3	34	16	18	28
3	Inter Milan	13	8	4	1	31	14	17	28
4	Fiorentina	13	8	4	1	27	10	17	28
5	Lazio	13	9	1	3	28	14	14	28
6	Juventus	13	6	7	0	21	7	14	25
7	AC Milan	12	5	4	3	20	14	6	19
8	Bologna	12	4	6	2	15	16	-1	18
9	Udinese	13	5	2	6	16	19	-3	17
10	Empoli	13	3	7	3	10	11	-1	16
11	Torino	13	4	3	6	16	19	-3	15
12	Roma	13	3	4	6	14	18	-4	13
13	Parma	13	2	6	5	17	21	-4	12
14	Hellas Verona Hellas Verona	13	4	0	9	17	32	-15	12
15	Lecce	13	3	3	7	6	21	-15	12
16	Cagliari Cagliari	13	2	5	6	14	24	-10	11
17	Genoa	13	2	5	6	11	24	-13	11
18	Como	13	2	4	7	13	25	-12	10
19	Monza	13	1	6	6	11	16	-5	9
20	Venezia Venezia	13	2	2	9	11	22	-11	8