Champions League Draw 2016-17: Schedule of Dates for Play-Off Round Fixtures

Manchester City will take on Steaua Bucharest in the 2016-17 UEFA Champions League play-off following the draw on Friday, while FC Porto will face AS Roma in the pick of the fixtures.

Villarreal will line up against AS Monaco in another intriguing clash, while Celtic have been paired with Israeli side Hapoel Beer-Sheva. Borussia Monchengladbach will meet Swiss team Young Boys, and Ajax will play Russian side FC Rostov.

The 10 winners will complete the 32-team lineup for this year's group stage. Here is confirmation of the full draw:

Ludogorets	vs.	Viktoria Plzen
Celtic	vs.	Hapoel Beer-Sheva
FC Copenhagen	vs.	APOEL Nicosia
Dundalk	vs.	Legia Warsaw
Dinamo Zagreb	vs.	Red Bull Salzburg
Steaua Bucharest	vs.	Manchester City
Porto	vs.	Roma
Ajax	vs.	Rostov
Young Boys	vs.	Borussia Monchengladbach
Villarreal	vs.	Monaco

The first legs will be played on Tuesday, August 16, and Wednesday, August 17. The second legs come a week later on August 23 and August 24.

Guardiola in Pursuit of Champions League Success

After reaching three successive semi-final defeats during his time with Bayern Munich, City boss Pep Guardiola will be aiming for Champions League glory, having won it twice with Barcelona as a manager.

The Catalan has recruited well so far this summer, with Nolito and Leroy Sane adding pace and flair to his attacking options. Against Steaua, they may well feature alongside familiar favourites Kevin De Bruyne and David Silva, with Guardiola unlikely to leave anything to chance.

Catherine Ivill - AMA/Getty Images

The tie should be relatively straightforward for City. As long as the Sky Blues avoid complacency—and it's unlikely Guardiola would allow them to be careless—they should have little trouble progressing to the group stage.

Mark Ogden of The Independent believes as much:

Per football journalist Emanuel Rosu, Steaua boss Laurentiu Reghecampf is hopeful their tough draw could bring the best out of his players:

Porto have plenty of European pedigree, having twice won UEFA's premier club competition, but they will need to be wary of fellow Champions League regulars Roma, who earned a 1-1 draw with Barcelona at the Stadio Olimpico last year.

Gianluca Di Marzio's David Amoyal rued the draw for the Giallorossi, though football writer Emmet Gates found a silver lining:

As OptaPaolo revealed, the pair do not have much experience playing one another, despite their respective histories in European competition:

Brendan Rodgers' Celtic have had a bumpy road in the Champions League preliminaries thus far, losing one of their legs with semi-professional Gibraltarian side Lincoln Red Imps in the second qualifying round and failing to convince in the following round against FC Astana.

Even against Hapoel, they'll still need to improve markedly if they're to stand a good chance of progressing.

Steve Welsh/Getty Images

Four-time competition winners Ajax will play Rostov, but they'll have to do so without star forward Arkadiusz Milik following his move to Napoli this summer.

They should still have enough about them to progress, but it is far from guaranteed—without the Poland international's goal threat, the onus will be on Anwar El Ghazi. If the 21-year-old winger can be contained, the Dutch side could struggle.

After his disappointing loan spell with Chelsea last term, Alexandre Pato will be looking to kickstart his career in European football with Villarreal and could make an appearance against Monaco.

Firing the Spanish side into the group stage of the Champions League would provide the perfect start for the Brazilian at El Madrigal. Should he play, the two legs will provide a useful barometer of where he's at ahead of the upcoming Primera Division season.