Four teams book their place alongside Roma in Champions League qualifiers

Four teams have joined Roma in the play-off stages for next season’s Champions League.

Baring an extraordinary result in the one remaining game of the Premier League season, Manchester City are the most high-profile side the Giallorossi could face in a qualifier for next season’s European competition.

The Giallorossi’s full list of opponents will not be known until the start of the new season – five of the 10 teams in the draw have to battle through preliminary rounds – but clubs from the top-five UEFA leagues (which includes Serie A) get an automatic passage into the final play-off round.

With all those domestic leagues ending at the weekend, we already know the other four teams in the draw.

Baring a sensational surprise – a 19-goal victory for Manchester United against Bournemouth, in the re-arrangement of the game which was postponed on Sunday – Manchester City will be the Premier League’s representative in the play-off round.

Other representatives from Europe’s top-ranked leagues were also finalised over the weekend – this year's Europa League semi-finalists Villarreal will represent La Liga, Borussia Monchengladbach qualified from the Bundesliga, while Porto will be the Primeira Liga’s participant.

With five further teams required to qualify via the preliminary play-off rounds, there is still a possibility that the Giallorossi will be seeded for the final play-off round, avoiding other high-ranked sides in the draw.

That will occur if all earlier entrants in the play-off rounds with a higher UEFA co-efficient than Roma are knocked out before the final qualifiers. Currently only Ajax and Shakhtar Donetsk fit that criteria, although representatives from Belgium and Russia could also do so depending on how those domestic leagues conclude.

The draw for the play-off rounds will take place on August 5 in Nyon.

The first leg of the play-offs are scheduled to take place on the 16th and 17th of August, while the return fixtures will be completed on the 23rd and 24th of the same month.

Winners in the play-off round enter the group stages of the Champions League. The losing sides move into the Europa League group stages.

Italian teams have a less than stellar record in the play-off round – in five of the last six seasons the Serie A participant has failed to reach the group stages proper.

Last season it was Lazio’s turn, as they were knocked out by Germany’s Bayer Leverkusen.

Next season will be the first time Roma have entered the Champions League at the play-off stage.