Liverpool up against unknown quantity in Uefa Cup

Liverpool have been drawn against the little-known Czech side Slovan Liberec in the second round of the Uefa Cup.

Liverpool have been drawn against the little-known Czech side Slovan Liberec in the second round of the Uefa Cup.

Gérard Houllier's team, whose goalless draw against Rapid Bucharest at Anfield on Thursday night sealed their passage from the opening round, play the Czechs on Merseyside in the first leg on 26 October. They then travel to the Czech Republic two weeks later for the second leg, which may be switched to Prague, on 9 November.

Liverpool, who looked far from convincing in their 1-0 aggregate victory over Rapid Bucharest, are looking to rediscover the form that made them one of the most feared teams in Europe during the 1980s. Rick Parry, the club's chief executive, said: "We are pleased with [the draw] although we do not know too much about Liberec, we'll be asking our Czech players, Patrick Berger and Vladimir Smicer, about them."

Switzerland's St Gallen, who provided the shock of the first round by defeating Chelsea 2-1 on aggregate, play Club Bruges. Celtic, who lost 2-1 in Finland to HJK Helsinki but went through 3-2 on aggregate, travel to France in the first leg of the second round.

Martin O'Neill's Scottish league leaders visit Bordeaux on 26 October and then face their opponents at Parkhead two weeks later in the second leg. The Celtic manager expressed pleasure with his side's tie against Bordeaux despite his side being outclassed by the French team at Parkhead in a pre-season friendly.

"I'm very, very pleased with the draw," said O'Neill. "I am just very pleased to be in it, but also I'm very happy with the outcome. I know Bordeaux were the seeded team and I knew who we could have got because I got a phone call just before the draw to tell me the teams we were involved with.

"So I had about 20 minutes to think about it and I probably did not want to make the Russian trip. I'm not over confident, far from it - Bordeaux are the seeded side and they beat us early in the pre-season and they might say they beat us easy enough. They will be favourites but I think we've got a chance. If Bordeaux had been watching [Thursday's] game they would not have been too concerned, but we are definitely a better side now [than when they beat us pre-season]."

Red Star Belgrade hope to return to home soil when they play Celta Vigo in the second round after being forced to play their first round, second leg against Leicester City in Vienna. The Yugoslavs, who won the Uefa Cup in 1979, were ordered to play their home leg against the English side on a neutral ground because of the unstable political situation at home.

Slobodan Vujcic, Red Star's general manager, said at yesterday's draw: "It could have been a better draw for both of us. The first game will hopefully be in Belgrade, there was no reason to play in Vienna, that was a little stupid." Celta struggled to come through their first round tie against the Croatian side, Rijeka.