GENEVA -- Even by Champions League standards, the stakes are dramatically high for Fenerbahce and Arsenal in the first leg of the playoff round on Wednesday. Arsenal seems to be in turmoil after a Premier League opening day loss fueled fans fury at the cash-rich clubs failure to sign big-name off-season targets. "I believe our season will depend on how we respond to this defeat," Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said Saturday after a 3-1 loss to Aston Villa on Saturday provoked hostile boos at Emirates Stadium. Fenerbahce hosts Arsenal in Istanbul only hours after its lawyers begin a two-day court hearing in Switzerland to challenge its expulsion from the Champions League by UEFA in a long-running, domestic match-fixing case. UEFA agreed to let Fenerbahce play while the appeal proceeds. The Court of Arbitration for Sports verdict -- promised next week after the return match in London -- could yet decide which team advances to the lucrative group stage, and collects 15-25 million-plus euros ($20-$33 million) in UEFA prize money. Like Arsenal, AC Milan regards a place in the Champions League group stage as key to its image and finances. The seven-time European champion begins its season Tuesday away to PSV Eindhoven, the 1988 European Cup winner which has already reeled off three wins to sit atop the Dutch league. Zenit St. Petersburg offers a tricky debut for Champions League newcomer Pacos de Ferreira, which hosts the first leg in Portugal on Tuesday. Also Tuesday, Celtic has made the six hour-plus flight to face Kazakhstan champion Shakhter Karagandy, Lyon hosts Real Sociedad and Viktoria Plzen hosts Maribor. Wednesdays five-match lineup includes: Dinamo Zagreb vs. Austria Vienna, Steaua Bucharest vs. Legia Warsaw and Ludogorets Razgrad vs. Basel. Schalke hosts PAOK Thessaloniki, which was reinstated by UEFA last week. PAOK previously lost to Metalist Kharkiv, which was later expelled when a 2008 match-fixing case was resolved this month. Despite two legal defeats at CAS already, Metalist seeks another ruling from Lausanne by midday Tuesday (1000 GMT) to get back into the competition "on the basis of alleged new evidence," the court said Monday. Three of the 10 playoff pairings have been affected by UEFA match-fixing investigations since current champion Bayern Munich beat German rival Borussia Dortmund at Wembley Stadium in May. Fenerbahces case has the greatest potential for drama. The club, UEFA and CAS could not process its challenge to a two-season ban from European competitions before the matches against Arsenal. During an off-season legal saga, Fenerbahce forward Dirk Kuyt wrote to UEFA on behalf of the players. Kuyt said they had "a lot of questions" about the punishment dating back to matches allegedly fixed in the 2010-11 Turkish season. "This is not even proven that we are guilty," wrote Kuyt, whose club president was among several officials convicted in a criminal trial. They deny wrongdoing and have appealed. Injury-hit Arsenal knows it could lose over two legs and still earn a 16th straight season in the group stage -- though Salzburg, Fenerbahces beaten opponent in the previous qualifying round, could also seek reinstatement. England winger Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is the latest Gunners casualty, seriously injuring his knee Saturday to join defenders Thomas Vermaelen and Nacho Monreal, plus midfielders Mikel Arteta and Abou Diaby on the sidelines. Milan, which begins in Serie A at Verona on Saturday, has played only friendlies ahead of facing match-fit PSV, now coached by former Netherlands midfielder Phillip Cocu. Schalke lost Dutch forward Klaas-Jan Huntelaar to a knee ligament injury in its 4-0 loss at Wolfsburg on Saturday. The revised fixture with PAOK brings the Greek clubs coach Huub Stevens back to Schalke, where he won the UEFA Cup in 1997 and at which a second spell in charge ended last December. Romanian champion Steaua, the 1986 European Cup winner, hosts Legia while club president Gigi Becali serves prison time for financial wrongdoing. In June, UEFA weighed allegations that Becali tried to pay bribes to influence a 2008 league match, and deferred Steauas one-year suspension for a five-year probation period. The 10 playoff winners join 22 elite teams that qualified directly for the lucrative group stage. The draw is made Aug. 29 in Monaco. Off White Vapormax Clearance . 1. AMIR JOHNSON: Nice to see him back in the lineup Tuesday night in Washington DC. Played with great energy and purpose. 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VANCOUVER -- Shortly after being named to his first head coaching job, Carl Robinson was on the phone with Camilo Sanvezzo to talk about getting the Vancouver Whitecaps star striker a new contract. Robinson said that December conversation was cordial, with Sanvezzo expressing excitement about what lay ahead for the Whitecaps in 2014. "Three days later he was in Mexico with an opposition shirt on," said Robinson. "So obviously that put the cat amongst the pigeons and then we needed to address that situation." The Whitecaps finally did that on Friday, selling Major League Soccers top scorer to Queretaro F.C. in what it called a "multi-million dollar" deal that ended a messy, two-week long soap opera. Last seasons Golden Boot winner with 22 goals, Sanvezzo had turned his back on the Whitecaps, practising with Queretaro and posing for pictures in the teams kit, even though the flashy Brazilian was still under contract with Vancouver. When Robinson travelled to Mexico to sit down with the 25-year-old Sanvezzo last week to see if anything could be done to heal the relationship, he knew there was no way back. "It surprised me and Ive been in football 25 years," said Robinson. "Hopefully we can put it to bed and move forward." That could prove to be a challenge. The Whitecaps -- who will get the majority of transfer fee, with MLS pocketing the rest -- tried to put a positive spin on a situation that can only be described as a disaster both on and off the field with pre-season training set to start next week. Sanvezzo joined Vancouver in 2011, scoring 39 goals in 92 league games, including 75 starts. The Whitecaps scored 53 times in MLS play last season, with Sanvezzo playing a part in 28 of them. He even told reporters after the Whitecaps missed the playoffs and fired head coach Martin Rennie that Robinson -- then an assistant with the club -- would be a good candidate for the job. "Its a frustrating situation because we believe we did what we needed to do," said Whitecaps president Bob Lenarduzzi. "We talked about sitting down with him and doing a new deal ... prior to getting to that, he was in Mexico in another teams jersey." While the Whitecaps could have gone the legal route and forced Sanvezzo -- who had two option years left on his deal -- back to Vancouver, Lenarduzzi said his mind was already made up. "When we sat down with Camilo, he said he was done," said Lenarduzzi, his voice raised as he met with reporters at Vancouver International Airport after arriving back from the MLS SuperDraft in Philadelphia. "He had given Queretaro his word that he would be going there. "Why are we going to battle someone that doesnt want to be here, thats actually reneged on his word when he signed a contract with us and then turned around and says hes given a club that hes going to, who he doesnt have a contract with, his word? "He doesnt want to be here, obviously, so on you go." Queretaro president Adolfo Rios apologized in a brieff statement released by the Whitecaps for the way in which the situation was handled.dddddddddddd. "On behalf of our club, we sincerely regret our misunderstanding in regards to Camilos contract earlier in the process," the statement read. Sanvezzo made US$247,500 last season, which put him third on the Whitecaps, but that number paled in comparison to fellow striker Kenny Millers salary of nearly $1.25 million. Robinson said Sanvezzo never asked for a raise and was made aware that no contracts talks would take place until a new coach was named. The loss of Sanvezzo creates an obvious hole up front for Vancouver, but perhaps more importantly, the spectacular departure also leaves the Whitecaps looking weak from a public relations perspective after the player simply refused to honour his contract. Trying to find a silver lining and with the regular season less than two months away, Robinson and Lenarduzzi both said that the money from the sale will be invested back into the club -- perhaps a creative midfielder that the Whitecaps have been lacking. Vancouver fans have watched Canadian cousins Toronto FC make major moves this off-season, including the signings of striker Jermaine Defoe and midfielder Michael Bradley. "There will be a number of signings coming in. Over the last few weeks weve had a lot to deal with," said Robinson. "Hopefully in the next few days and weeks there will be a lot of new players coming in." Lenarduzzi added that Sanvezzos departure opens up a spot for some of Vancouvers younger players, including strikers Darren Mattocks, Omar Salgado and Kekuta Manneh. "We have some guys that are ironically enough pretty excited that Camilos not coming back, not for the fact that they dont get along with him but (because) its going to provide opportunities," said Lenarduzzi. The off-season was anything but quiet for the Whitecaps before the Sanvezzo soap opera took centre stage in the new year. The team took six weeks to name a new coach, with Vancouver striking out in its attempt to hire former United States national team boss Bob Bradley before settling on Robinson. Mattocks also went on Jamaican television and expressed his displeasure with how he was used during the 2013 campaign. The 37-year-old Robinson, just past the first month at the helm, said the Sanvezzo saga has been a learning experience. "Ive dealt with it professionally and honestly and the club has done the same as well," said the Welshman. "Im sure Ill be a better person for it and a better head coach moving forward." Notes: The Whitecaps said that midfielder Andre Lewis, who was drafted seventh overall on Thursday, is their property despite a report that said he had signed with the NASLs New York Cosmos. Both Lenarduzzi and Robinson said MLS and the Cosmos are dealing with the situation and that Vancouver expects that Lewis will take part in pre-season training. ... Lenarduzzi said the Whitecaps are nearing a deal that will keep captain Jay DeMerit with the club. ' ' '