THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
NYON, Switzerland — The easier ride predicted for AC Milan in the UEFA Cup may not materialize when the draw for the group stage is made Tuesday, with the Italian club facing the possibility of a lineup worthy of the Champions League.
As befits a club that has spent its recent history competing in the Champions League and reached last season’s UEFA Cup semifinals in a rare foray into Europe’s second-tier competition, Milan is seeded alongside two-time winner Sevilla and Spanish side Valencia among the top clubs in the draw at UEFA headquarters.
But the format is such that the five-time European champions could be unlucky enough to find themselves in the same group as four-time European champion Ajax, tournament regular Slavia Prague, Premier League side Aston Villa and Belgian champion Standard Liege.
Given Milan’s inconsistent start to the season, that sounds pretty formidable, although the fact that three clubs from each of the eight five-team groups advances to the next round should spare the powerhouse too much discomfort.
The possibility of such strong groups lends the UEFA Cup more allure than it has enjoyed in recent years, when the once prestigious tournament became debased by the expansion of the Champions League to include clubs that have not won their national leagues.
UEFA has opted to revamp the competition by rebranding it as the UEFA Europa League from next season and giving it a new format.
But Benfica, Feyenoord and Villa have also been European champions and are already present in this year’s UEFA Cup, while names as famous as Paris Saint-Germain and Galatasaray are also there.
The draw will be made by randomly selecting one team from each of the five pots, although clubs from the same country cannot be placed into the same groups. That means Milan cannot come up against Udinese or Sampdoria, which are among the third-seeded clubs.
Similarly, Tottenham will be spared the possibility of meeting Premier League rivals Manchester City, Portsmouth or Villa.
Spurs are in their third straight season in the UEFA Cup and have twice won the tournament, giving rise to their seeding alongside Milan, Sevilla, Valencia, Benfica, Schalke, Hamburger SV and CSKA Moscow.
The fact that they cannot meet any of the biggest teams will come as a huge comfort following a disastrous start to the season that has left them at the bottom of the Premier League. Tottenham’s board may also be breathing a sigh of relief that they cannot yet meet Sevilla or Hamburg..
Former Tottenham manager Martin Jol has coached Hamburg to the top of Germany’s Bundesliga, while Sevilla is still aggrieved that Spurs replaced Jol after firing him a year ago by snatching Juande Ramos, who led the Spanish side to the UEFA Cup title in 2006 and ’07.
Stuttgart, Ajax, Olympiakos, Deportivo La Coruna, FC Bruges, Spartak Moscow, PSG and Heerenveen are the second-seeded clubs. Rosenborg, Udinese, Feyenoord, Braga, Slavia Prague, Manchester City, Galatasaray and Sampdoria come next.
Hertha Berlin, Partizan Belgrade, Nancy, Portsmouth, Villa, Racing Santander, FC Copenhagen and Dinamo Zagreb are in pot No. 4.
Saint-Etienne, Wolfsburg, Standard Liege, FC Twente, NEC Nijmegen, Metalist Kharkiv, Lech Poznan and MSK Zilina are ranked lowest.