Arsenal must overcome Serie A opposition in the shape of Udinese if Arsene Wenger's team is to make it to the Champions League group stages for the 14th successive season. The Gunners were pitted against the Italian side in the draw for the Champions league playoffs held at UEFA headquarters in Nyon Friday. This will be a first-ever meeting between Arsenal, the beaten finalist in 2006, and Udinese, which last made it into the group stage that same season. Arsenal is forced to go through the playoffs after its end of term collapse which resulted in a fourth place finish in the Premier League last season. Its two-legged encounter with Udinese falls between some demanding home assignments against Newcastle, Liverpool and Manchester United. Friday's draw also featured two previous winners of Europe's top club competition, with Bayern Munich facing Swiss side FC Zurich and former titleholder from Portugal Benfica up against Dutch league runner-up FC Twente. Rubin Kazan, the Russian outfit, which caused a stir when beating Barcelona 2-1 in the group stage two seasons ago, will not prove easy pickings for Lyon of France. Rubin booked its playoff place with a 4-1 aggregate qualifying win over Dynamo Kiev. Malmo was rewarded with a match-up against Croatian league champion Dynamo Zagreb. Spain's Villarreal crosses swords with Danish side Odense. The first legs will be played on Aug. 16-17 with the second legs on August 23-24. The 10 playoff winners will then join the 22 automatically qualified teams for the group stage draw to be held in Monaco on Aug. 25. The final for this season's competition will be held at Bayern Munich's stadium in May next year. Europa draw The draw for the Europa League playoffs Friday threw up a Battle of Britain clash as Scottish club Hearts was paired with English Premier League side Tottenham Hotspur. Elsewhere, 2010 Europa League finalist Fulham was handed a tricky-looking draw against Ukrainian club Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk, which is coached by former Sevilla, Spurs and Real Madrid boss Juande Ramos. Birmingham City will meet Nacional of Portugal, while Stoke City plays Swiss club FC Thun. Scottish champion Rangers will meet another Champions League dropout in Maribor of Slovenia. Celtic will meet FC Sion of Switzerland, and the surviving Irish representative Shamrock Rovers takes on Partizan Belgrade. Other standout ties include last season's Turkish league runner-up Trabzonspor against Athletic Bilbao of Spain, and Hannover, fourth in last season's Bundesliga, against two-time UEFA Cup winners Sevilla.
