Danger lurks for giants of the game

Seven former winners of the European Champion Clubs' Cup and some of the biggest names in world football will discover their opponents for the third qualifying round of the UEFA Champions League in tomorrow's draw in Nyon.

Big winners
Milan AC boast the most illustrious past of the 16 seeds who enter the draw, having won the tournament five times - only Real Madrid CF have been more successful. However, they finished fourth in Serie A last season and the club's owner, Silvio Berlusconi, is no longer willing to make the expensive signings that were a feature of Milan's success in the 1990s. Indeed, more players have left than been brought in over the summer as coach Carlo Ancelotti battles to bring some cheer to the San Siro.

High rollers
By contrast, the most recent winners of the competition coming in at this stage, the 2001 champions FC Bayern München, have added impressively to their squad. After a disappointing season in which they only finished third in the 1. Bundesliga, the four-times European champions have brought in Zé Roberto and young German stars Sebastian Deisler and Michael Ballack to add some extra flair to their midfield.

Feeling the squeeze
Two-times winners Internazionale FC are also coming in at the third qualifying round stage after finishing a disappointing third in Serie A last term having set the pace for most of the season. They, too, have tightened their belts over the summer, with the likes of Ronaldo, Christian Vieri and Alvaro Recoba all offering to take pay cuts to lessen the load on owner Massimo Moratti’s shoulders.

Transfer record
Manchester United FC, two-times winners of the competition, are also coming off a disappointing season, having finished third in the FA Premiership, ten points behind champions Arsenal FC. But manager Sir Alex Ferguson has moved quickly to shore up last season's porous defence, breaking the British transfer record to bring in England defender Rio Ferdinand for €46.9m.

Looking to youth
FC Barcelona, the champions from 1992, start this new campaign with Louis van Gaal back at the helm. They have offloaded a number of players, including stalwarts Abelardo Fernández and Sergi Barjuan, as well as releasing Brazilian star Rivaldo from his contract. In the meantime, Juan Román Riquelme has been brought in to link up with his compatriot Javier Saviola as the club looks to youth to bring some honours back to Camp Nou.

Waiting in the wings
Other seeded clubs to have won the competition include last season's UEFA Cup winners Feyenoord and Celtic FC. Yet there are a number of particularly dangerous teams waiting in the unseeded section of the draw, sides everyone will be hoping to avoid at this early stage. Portuguese champions Sporting Clube de Portugal, Fenerbahçe SK and AJ Auxerre in particular are more than capable of upsetting any team on their day. That day could come in this round, with the first leg taking place on the 13/14 August and the return on 27/28 August.