WITH one successful trip to Eastern Europe behind them, Blackburn Rovers will find out what awaits them in the next round of the UEFA Cup when the draw is made on Tuesday.

And arguably the most thrilling prospect could be that they will be drawn against Scottish giants Celtic, ensuring a return to Glasgow for manager Graeme Souness.

As ever with a cup draw run by UEFA there are almost as many ifs and buts involved as there are actual teams and Rovers chief executive John Williams admitted: "We think we have worked out what the situation is.

"This is not gospel but we do believe that we will not be one of the 24 seeded teams because of our poor record in Europe but that is not something that worries us. In fact it might even suit us. We were seeded for the last round but now we will be drawn against one of the top 24 although we do know that we cannot play another English team at this stage.

"The pots that existed when the first draw was made have been done away with and so it will be just a straight draw.

"I think that Lazio are the number one seeds and Celtic are also seeded."

Williams also believes that first division strugglers Ipswich will be seeded because they did well in Europe last season.

But he is fairly sure that the one place they will not be going is Sofia, despite the fact that Levski Sofia reached the second round with a comfortable two legged defeat of Danish side Brondby. "Like us they are not among the seeds so we will not be going back there at this stage," said Williams.

This is the final knockout stage before the 24 remaining teams are joined in the last 32 by the eight sides to have finished third in their groups in the Champions League.

While he accepts that he is a notoriously bad watcher of games he did not think for one minute that the Bulgarian side would score the fourth goal of the game that would have completed one of the most remarkable comebacks in the UEFA Cup's colourful history.

"Mind you I did not expect them to score a first, a second or a third," he joked. "But I honestly did not see them getting a fourth. I thought we did brilliantly and for 70 minutes we played really, really well. I've got to admit I loved the atmosphere although it did get a bit naughty on a couple of occasions, especially the racist abuse. There should never be that at any football game.

"But for most of the time it was tremendous, the fans made a great noise and got behind their team.

"I think it was a fantastic experience for the young players and I am sure they will benefit from it in the future.

"Just look at our back four. We had three players aged around 22 and I don't think there is another team in the Premier League that can say that. That suggests to me that the future is very bright because they will all just keep getting better."

There is no doubt that wherever the draw sends Rovers young stars they will relish the experience. The message is: "Bring them on!"