Arsène Wenger has had a busy summer, taking in games at Euro 2008, fine-tuning his squad and fighting to hold on to some of his best players, but the Arsenal manager found time yesterday to offer his support to Steve McClaren after Arsenal were drawn against FC Twente in the third qualifying round of the Champions League.

McClaren became the coach of the Dutch Eredivisie club six weeks ago and the former England head coach was hoping to rebuild his battered reputation away from the bright lights of English football.

Instead the “Wally with the Brolly” has to face Arsenal in a two-legged tie that stands between his team and a place in the group stage. “You get a lot of hard criticism in England and some managers have problems recovering from that,” Wenger said. “Many national team managers struggle because mentally it is quite hard to take.

“He is not at the end of his career, he is in the middle of his career. I remember when I started and I look at the people who were around me and there are not many who have survived because you go through difficult periods. But the strong ones survive so he is at the period where he will show that he can bounce back and show his quality.”

Although McClaren will not admit it in public, the former Middlesbrough manager is likely to be aware that his players are on a hiding to nothing against opponents such as Cesc Fàbregas and Theo Walcott. McClaren was in the away dugout at Highbury when Middlesbrough were thrashed 7-0 in January 2006, but only two players who tormented him that afternoon — Fàbregas and Philippe Senderos — are likely to face his new Dutch team.

McClaren’s first match as the Middlesbrough manager was a 4-0 home defeat by Arsenal in August 2001 and few impartial observers will fancy Twente’s chances.

“I believe we were very unlucky last season,” Wenger said. “This year we want to make another step forward and challenge even more. There is no reason why with such a young squad we will be less good this year.”

Twente qualified for the Champions League for the first time despite finishing fourth in the Dutch first division at the end of last season by beating Ajax in a controversial play-off that has now been scrapped. Ajax, who were runners-up behind PSV Eindhoven, finished seven points and two places above Twente but had to settle for a place in the Uefa Cup.

The Arsenal manager is confident that his team will prove to be too good for Twente over two legs and Rafael Benítez, the Liverpool manager, also declared that he was happy that his team had been drawn against Standard Liège. “There are two very important things about this draw,” Benítez said. “Firstly, the second game is at home which is really, really important. I am also pleased because the travelling is not a problem. We do not have to go too far which is good, especially when you look at some of the teams we could have drawn.

“People may say it is a kind draw for us but we will treat them with respect. We know some things about their team already but we will now watch more videos and get reports from our scouts before the first game.”

Liverpool, finalists twice in four years, face a Liège side who are making their Champions League debut after winning the Belgian title for the first time in 25 years.

Laszlo Boloni’s team went on a 31-match unbeaten run to lift the crown, but they will not relish facing players such as Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard.

Liverpool have played Standard Liège once before, in 1965-66 when they won both legs of a Cup Winners’ Cup first-round tie — 3-1 at Anfield and 2-1 in Belgium. That season Liverpool reached the final in Glasgow before losing to Borussia Dortmund.

Champions League third qualifying round

Anorthosis Famagusta or Rapid Vienna v Olympiacos Vitoria Guimaraes v IFK Gothenburg or FC Basle Shakhtar Donetsk v NK Domzale or Dynamo Zagreb Schalke 04 v Atlético Madrid Aalborg or FK Modrica v Rangers or Kaunas Barcelona v Beitar Jerusalem or Wisla Krakow Levski Sofia v Anderlecht or BATE Standard Liège v Liverpool Inter Baku or FK Partizan v Fenerbahçe or MTK Budapest FC Twente v Arsenal Spartak Moscow v Drogheda or Dynamo Kiev Juventus v Tampere or Artmedia Brann or Ventspils v Marseilles Fiorentina v Slavia Prague Galatasaray v Steaua Bucharest Panathinaikos or Dinamo Tbilisi v Sheriff Tiraspol or Sparta Prague

First legs August 12 and 13 Second legs August 26 and 27