Reds head to Turkey

Liverpool landed a potentially tricky tie against Turkish side Trabzonspor as British clubs discovered their Europa League play-off opponents on Friday.

Manchester City were drawn against Romanian side FC Timisoara while Aston Villa face Austrian club Rapid Vienna.

Celtic play Dutch side Utrecht, Dundee United face AEK Athens, Motherwell will take on Danish club Odense BK while Welsh minnows TNS will face CSKA Sofia.

The two-legged ties will take place on 19 and 26 August, subject to change.

Roy Hodgson's Liverpool will play at home first before having to travel over 2000 miles to north-eastern Turkey for the deciding second leg.

The club has met Trabzonspor once before when the two sides clashed in the second round of the 1976-77 European Cup [now the Champions League] - after losing the first leg 1-0 in Turkey, the Reds ran out comprehensive 3-0 winners in the return meeting.

Liverpool, though, have enjoyed recent success playing in Turkey when they beat AC Milan to win the Champions League in 2005.

Club secretary Ian Silvester said: "Returning to Turkey brings back great memories of Istanbul in 2005.

"At this early stage of the season it will be a tough game for us. The Europa League is a good competition to win and we want to go further than the semi-final stage that we reached last season."

Manchester City travel to Romania for the first leg against Timisoara, who were only established in 2002 and finished fifth in their domestic league last season.

Celtic play their first game at home before travelling to Holland a week later, while Motherwell meet Odense BK in Denmark first.

Scottish Cup holders Dundee United were drawn at home first while TNS travel to Bulgaria for their first leg to meet CSKA Sofia.

Uefa Europa League play-off draw in full:

Paris St Germain (France) v Maccabi Tel Aviv (Israel)

Bayer Leverkusen (Germany) v Tavria Simferopol (Ukraine)

CSKA Moscow (Russia) v Anorthosis Famagusta (Cyprus)

Hajduk Split (Croatia) v Unirea Urziceni (Romania)

Feyenoord (Netherlands) v Ghent (Belgium)

Racing Genk (Belgium) v Porto (Portugal)

Debrecen (Hungary) v Litex Lovech (Bulgaria)

Aris Saloniki (Greece) v Austria Vienna (Austria)

Galatasaray (Turkey) v Karpaty Lviv (Ukraine)

Palermo (Italy) v Maribor (Slovenia)

Club Bruges (Belgium) v Dinamo Minsk (Belarus)

Omonia (Cyprus) v Metalist Kharkiv (Ukraine)

Vaslui (Romania) v Lille (France)

Napoli (Italy) v Elfsborg Boras (Sweden)

Sporting (Portugal) v Brondby (Denmark)

Grasshoppers (Switzerland) v Steaua Bucharest (Romania)

Liverpool (England) v Trabzonspor (Turkey)

Celtic (Scotland) v Utrecht (Netherlands)

Borussia Dortmund (Germany) v Garabagh Agdam (Azerbaijan)

AIK Stockholm (Sweden) v Levski Sofia (Bulgaria)

Sturm Graz (Austria) v Juventus (Italy)

Getafe (Spain) v APOEL Nicosia (Cyprus)

Dundee United (Scotland) v AEK Athens (Greece)

AZ Alkmaar (Netherlands) v FK Atyrau (Kazakhstan)

Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk (Ukraine) v Lech Poznan (Poland)

Rapid Vienna (Austria) v Aston Villa (England)

CSKA Sofia (Bulgaria) v TNS (Wales)

Besiktas (Turkey) v HJK Helsinki (Finland)

Slovan Bratislava (Slovakia) v VfB Stuttgart (Germany)

Sibir Novosibirsk (Russia) v PSV Eindhoven (Netherlands)

BATE Borisov (Belarus) v Maritimo (Portugal)

Luzern (Switzerland) v Lokomotiv Moscow (Russia)

Gyor ETO (Hungary) v Dinamo Zagreb (Croatia)

OB Odense (Denmark) v Motherwell (Scotland)

PAOK Salonika (Greece) v Fenerbahce (Turkey)

Villarreal (Spain) v Dnepr Mogilev (Belarus)

FC Timisoara (Romania) v Manchester City (England)

This story has been reproduced from today's media. It does not necessarily represent the position of Liverpool Football Club.