English football team Machester United will come to Bucharest to play against Romanian side Otelul Galati on October 18 in the UEFA Champions League group stage. The match will be hosted by the National Arena, the newly-opened stadium in Bucharest.

Manchester United, managed by the legendary Sir Alex Ferguson, is the most successful English team in the last 20 years. Last season, United reached the final of the competition, but lost against FC Barcelona. Manchester also won the English Premier League title last season.

Otelul Galati was the surprise winner of the Romanian First Division last season and thus got access directly to the UEFA Champions League group stage. Otelul is managed by the former Romanian football international Dorinel Munteanu, who holds the record for the most matches played under the Romanian flag. The team is sponsored by ArcelorMittal, which owns the largest Romanian steel producer, ArcelorMittal Galati.

Otelul will play in group C against Manchester United, Benfica Lisabona (Portugal) and FC Basel (Switzerland). The first home match will be against Benfica, on September 27, also on the National Arena. The match against Basel will be on November 22.

National Arena, a project funded with public money, required investments of EUR 175 million and took four years to complete. Initially announced to be inaugurated by Irish band U2 and then by a match against Argentina on August 11, Romania's National Arena will host the first event on September 6, when Romania will meet France in the EURO 2012 preliminaries.

National Arena will also host the Europa League final scheduled for may next year.

editor@romania-insider.com

(photo source: National Arena)