Europa League draw LIVE: Rangers, Barcelona and Dortmund among teams in playoffs
Follow all the latest updates from the Europa League draw featuring Barcelona, Napoli, Dortmund, and Sevilla
Barcelona against Napoli is the stand out tie in the Europa League play-offs, with Rangers taking on Borussia Dortmund.
Barcelona find themselves trying to keep alive their hopes of European football after finishing third in their Champions League group behind Bayern Munich and Benfica. It is the first time since 2003-04, when Barcelona were in the UEFA Cup, that the Catalan club will not be in the knockout stages of the Champions League, a competition they have won five times. Napoli, winners of the competition in 1989, progressed from a Europa League group which included Leicester, who they beat 3-2 in the final group game in Naples.
Sevilla, who have won the competition a record six times, will have added incentive to add to that tally with this season’s final taking place at their Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan Stadium. Real Betis also see the final hosted in their home city and will play 2008 winners Zenit St Petersburg. The competition’s most successful club Sevilla were paired with Dinamo Zagreb.
Follow all the latest from the Europa League draw below.
Europa League draw
I’ve made a mistake myself! West Ham will not be drawn today. It is only the runners-up of each group and the teams dropping down from the Champions League.
West Ham will then meet one of those teams in the last 16.
Europa League draw
So the big teams involved in this draw include Rangers, Sevilla and Barcelona. It will be quite incredible to see Barcelona in the Europa League.
The Catalan giants were knocked out of the Champions League group stages for the first time in 20 years.
Europa League draw
You have to feel for Uefa deputy general secretary Giorgio Marchetti. He now has to conduct this draw with the knowledge that he just oversaw a calamitous Champions League draw.
Tough job.
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Europa League draw
Bizarrely there are now 24 teams in the second round of the Europa League, so we can’t call it the last 16.
Instead, the runners-up of each group will face a side dropping down from the Champions League. Then the winners of those ties will meet the group winners in the last 16.
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