Europa League draw: Watch full replay Uefa group stage 2019 draw as Man Utd and Arsenal learnt fate
Watch a full replay of the 2019/20 Uefa Europa League group stage draw
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Manchester United face a couple of long-distance midweek trips after being drawn in a Europa League group with Astana of Kazakhstan, Partizan Belgrade and AZ Alkmaar.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's team are set to play in Group L and their away clash with Astana will see United make a 6,000 mile round trip to Nur-Sultan.
Last season's finalists Arsenal have been drawn against Eintracht Frankfurt, Standard Liege and Vitoria Guimaraes. Frankfurt reached the semi-finals last term before being knocked out by Chelsea.
Wolves have been put in a group with Besiktas, Braga and Slovan Bratislava.
Scottish Champions Celtic will play Lazio, Rennes and Cluj - the Romanian club who knocked them out of Champions League qualifying.
Rangers, meanwhile, were placed with Porto, Young Boys and Feyenoord.
When do the games take place?
- Matchday one: 19 September
- Matchday two: 3 October
- Matchday three: 24 October
- Matchday four: 7 November
- Matchday five: 28 November
- Matchday six: 12 December
Latest updates:
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Arsenal will face last season's semi-finalists Eintracht Frankfurt, but avoid any particularly arduous travelling:
Wolves fans have already visited Northern Ireland, Armenia and Italy on their Europa League travels this summer, and trips to Turkey, Portugal and Slovakia are on the docket in Group K.
Manchester United probably wouldn't have picked a trip to the Kazakh capital, but it's a somewhat friendly draw for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's side. Partizan Belgrade will offer another tricky away day, but they and Astana shouldn't cause too much bother, and AZ Alkmaar needed extra-time to progress past Antwerp in the play-off round.
Indeed, Manchester United have met Partizan Belgrade before: the Serbians (then of Yugoslavia, of course) bested Bobby Charlton, George Best et al. in the European Cup semi-finals, with a 2-1 aggregate win.
Beaten finalists last season, Arsenal will be plotting a similarly deep run in the competition this year, and I'd hazard a guess that Europa League specialist Unai Emery is relatively pleased with that draw.
A solid trio of sides, yes, but no fatiguing trips to the farther flung corners of Europe, and a chance to tune up for the knockout rounds against three relatively strong and stylistically different teams. Eintracht Frankfurt may have been semi-finalists last season but they did not qualify automatically for the Europa League and have lost such attacking threat after the departures of Sebastien Haller and Luka Jovic. It's a good group for the Gunners.
Celtic fans looking for a Europa League run to sweeten their season after missing out on the Champions League may not be hugely happy with that draw.
Lazio are a well-crafted side, while Stade Rennais beat Arsenal at home in the Round of 16 last season before rather tumbling out of the competition at the Emirates.
And then there are their Champions League vanquishers CFR Cluj, who came a cropper at the hands of Slavia Prague in the next round and thus drop down with the Scottish side. Tough stuff for Neil Lennon's men.
Rangers face a similarly testing group, with former champions Porto the headline act in Group G. Young Boys are European veterans who beat Juventus in last season's Champions League, while Jaap Stam's Feyenoord have real quality in their ranks. Having only just squeaked by Legia Warsaw, it won't be easy for Steven Gerrard's side to better their third place group finish last season.
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