MONACO: Last season’s runners-up Arsenal were placed in the same section as Eintracht Frankfurt in the draw for the Europa League group stage in Monaco on Friday, while Manchester United will have a long trip to Kazakhstan as well as flights to Serbia and the Netherlands.
Unai Emery’s Arsenal side lost to Chelsea in the final in Baku after Eintracht had been eliminated by the same side on penalties in the last four. Ten-time Belgian champions Standard Liege and Portugal’s Vitoria Guimaraes are also in Group ‘F’.
United, three-time champions of the more illustrious European Cup, are back in the second-tier competition after finishing sixth in the Premier League last season. They were drawn into Group ‘L’ with AZ Alkmaar, Partizan Belgrade and Astana, which is more than six hours by air from Manchester.
“It’s a long way away, logistically speaking, it’s not the easiest,” said former United player Denis Irwin, who represented the club at the draw in Monaco. “We would rather be in the Champions League, obviously, but we’ll be out to win this competition.”
Wolverhampton Wanderers, the third English team in the draw, will take on Turkish side Besiktas in Group ‘K’. In their first European campaign since 1980, Wolves have already come through three ties just to reach the group stage. Nuno Espirito Santo’s team will also take on Braga of Portugal and Slovan Bratislava of Slovakia.
While all three Premier League sides will be fancied to progress to the last 32, the draw was far less kind on the two Scottish representatives.
Scottish champions Celtic meet Italian Cup holders Lazio and French Cup holders Rennes in Group ‘E’ as well as CFR Cluj, the Romanian side to whom they lost in Champions League qualifying.
“It’s a great draw,” Celtic manager Neil Lennon said. “A couple of glamour games and the chance for some retribution against Cluj.”
Meanwhile, Steven Gerrard’s Rangers will take on former European Cup winners Porto and Feyenoord as well as Swiss champions Young Boys in Group ‘G’. Rangers reached the group stage for the second season running after edging out Legia Warsaw in the play-off round.
Sevilla, who won a hat-trick of titles between 2014 and 2016, were drawn in an easier group with APOEL Nicosia (Cyprus), Qarabag (Azerbaijan) and F91 Dudelange (Luxembourg).
Former Chelsea forward Eden Hazard, who moved to Real Madrid in the close season, was named the Europa League player of the year for the 2018-19 campaign after he led the London side to the final, where he scored twice in the 4-1 win over Arsenal.
The opening group games will be played on September 19. This season’s final will be held in the Polish city of Gdansk on May 27, 2020. The winners of the Europa League earn a place in the next season’s Champions League.
