Europa League draw LIVE: Arsenal, Tottenham, Leicester, Celtic and Rangers learn group stage opponents
Follow the latest updates from Nyon as the draw for the 2020/21 Europa League group stage takes place with Celtic and Rangers joining the three Premier League sides in the hat
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Your support makes all the difference.Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur and Leicester City all learned their Europa League opponents this season following the group stage draw on Friday, while Scottish sides Celtic and Rangers were handed tricky ties for the 2020/21 campaign.
Both Arsenal and Spurs found themselves in Pot One and managed to avoid any of the hidden dangers that lurked lower down the draw. 2019 finalists Arsenal face the unusual task of crossing the Irish Sea to face Ireland’s league champions Dundalk, and trips to Vienna and Molde will not be too taxing for Mikel Arteta’s side. Similarly, Spurs will not see much danger in Group J, although they have a lot more travelling on their hands in the shape of Bulgarian side Ludogorets, Austrian side LASK and nearby Belgian side Royal Antwerp.
Leicester will also be pleased with the shape of Group G, with Portuguese side Braga their toughest test along with AEK Athens and Ukranian outfit Zorya Luhansk.
Celtic are not so lucky though, with the Group H side landing AC Milan and Lille in a tricky draw, with Sparta Prague making up the group. Rangers meanwhile will, like Leicester, be heading to Portugal after drawing one of the tougher opponents in Benfica, while Hoffenheim will also pose a challenge. Czech side Liberec make up the group. Re-live the draw below.
UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE DRAW
Group A: AS Roma,
Group B: Arsenal,
Group C:
Group D:
Group E:
Group F:
Group G:
Group H:
Group I:
Group J:
Group K:
Group L:
UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE DRAW
Group A: AS Roma,
Group B:
Group C:
Group D:
Group E:
Group F:
Group G:
Group H:
Group I:
Group J:
Group K:
Group L:
UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE DRAW
We begin of course with Pot One, which means Arsenal, Tottenham and Celtic are all up:
Pot One: Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur, AS Roma, Napoli, Benfica, Bayer Leverkusen, Villarreal, CSKA Moscow, Braga, Gent, PSV Eindhoven, Celtic.
UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE DRAW
Ferrara is joined by Uefa’s deputy general secretary Giorgio Marchetti, who is on hand once again to run the rule over the draw and ensure that everything goes to plan. It means we’re very nearly ready to go.
UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE DRAW
The first man tasked with helping to carry out the draw is former Italy international Ciro Ferrara, who joins Pedro Pinto on stage, having scored in Napoli’s successful final back in 1989.
UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE DRAW
Before the draw gets underway, Pedro Pinto will reveal the Uefa Europa League Player fo the Season for 2019/20, and it’s … Romelu Lukaku!
The Inter Milan striker netted in every one of their six games in the campaign, and although he had the misfortune of handing the trophy to Sevilla in the final, he also managed to score in the right goal in the form of an early penalty.
After being presented with the trophy last week, Lukaku said: “I want to thank Internazionale for putting me in this position, for playing for a team that I love and a team I supported as a child. I want to congratulate Sevilla for winning the trophy, and I want to thank my mum, my agent, Antonio Conte and everyone at the club, the board and for the trust in supporting me throughout this season. But most importantly I want to thank my teammates, they are like brothers and every day I come in smiling because of them. We had a great season and this season we’re going to be even better."
UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE DRAW
We’re away with the first of what will be many montages this afternoon, with Uefa keen to reflect on how they managed to complete the 2019/20 season amid the coronavirus pandemic, which saw the Europa League wrapped up with the knockout stages located in Germany - much like the Champions League format in Portugal.
The return of European football did bring a bright ray of sunshine to dark times, it must be said, but it feels like just yesterday that Romelu Lukaku’s unfortunate own goal handed Sevilla the title in Cologne.
UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE DRAW
Right then, here we go! Presenter Pedro Pinto gets the Europa League draw underway in a very lonely hall.
UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE DRAW
Who are the teams to avoid?
For Leicester, the situation is rather tricky. They cannot play to two top seeds in Arsenal and Spurs, but there are threats all across pot one that includes Roma, Napoli, Benfica, Bayer Leverkusen and Villarreal.
Spurs, Arsenal and Celtic will all avoid those teams as well as each other, but the dangers lurk further down the draw with AC Milan on pot three and Lille lurking in pot four, while the Europa League draw also throws up the odd unexpected trip to parts unknown across the continent.
For Rangers, they face the prospect of two big-name clubs from the top two pots, and a Lille, Nice or Wolfsberg would really produce a nightmare scenario for Steven Gerrard’s side.
UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE DRAW
Just 15 minutes until we’re underway in Geneva, so let’s remind ourselves of the four separate pots and the different procedures.
- Pot One: Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur, AS Roma, Napoli, Benfica, Bayer Leverkusen, Villarreal, CSKA Moscow, Braga, Gent, PSV Eindhoven, Celtic.
- Pot Two: Dinamo Zagreb, Sparta Prague, Slavia Prague, Ludogorets, Young Boys, Crvena Zvezda, Rapid Wien, Leicester City, Qarabag, PAOK, Standard Liege, Real Sociedad.
- Pot Three: Granada, AC Milan, AZ Alkmaar, Feyenoord, AEK, Maccabi Tel-Aviv, Rangers, Molde, Hoffenheim, LASK, Hapoel Be’er Sheva, CFR Cluj.
- Pot Four: Zorya Luhansk, LOSC, Nice, Rijeka, Dundalk, Liberec, Antwerp, Lech, Sivasspor, Wolfsberg, Omonoia, CSKA Sofia.
No team can play a club from their own association, and Uefa’s decision to keep Russian and Ukrainian clubs apart remains in force which means they cannot be placed in the same group.
Clubs from the same country have also been paired to ensure they will play at alternative kick-off times, with the likes of Arsenal and Spurs, Napoli and AC Milan and Celtic and Rangers due to be drawn in opposite halves of the draw.
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