The draw for the 2018/19 Europa League group stage has been made with British clubs Arsenal, Chelsea, Celtic and Rangers all finding out their opponents.
Last season’s semi-finalists Arsenal will fancy their chances of reaching the knockout rounds once again this year as they take on Sporting CP, Azerbaijani side Qarabag and Vorskla Poltava.
Chelsea, back in the Europa League after a fifth-placed finish in the Premier League League, have been given a tricky group consisting of Greek side PAOK, Belarusian BATE Borisov and one-time European Cup finalists MOL Vidi of Hungary.
Scottish champions Celtic dropped into the competition after losing in the Champions League qualifying rounds, and will face a tough group against Red Bull Salzburg, RB Leipzig and Rosenborg.
While Steven Gerrard will take his Rangers side to Villarreal, Rapid Vienna and Spartak Moscow.
Each draw, fans keep an eye out for potential groups of death, and for the Europa League Group F is the stand out this year with Olympiacos, AC Milan, Real Betis and unfortunate first-timers F91 Dudelange.
Full draw
Group A: Bayer Leverkusen (Germany), Ludogorets Razgrad (Bulgaria), Zürich (Switzerland), AEK Larnaca (Cyprus)
Group B: Red Bull Salzburg (Austria), Celtic (Scotland), RB Leipzig (Germany), Rosenborg (Norway)
Group C: Zenit Saint Petersburg (Russia), Copenhagen (Denmark), Bordeaux (France), Slavia Prague (Czech Republic)
Group D: Anderlecht (Belgium), Fenerbahçe (Turkey), Dinamo Zagreb (Croatia), Spartak Trnava (Slovakia)
Group E: Arsenal (England), Sporting CP (Portugal), Qarabağ (Azerbaijan), Vorskla Poltava (Ukraine)
Group F: Olympiacos (Greece), Milan (Italy), Real Betis (Spain), F91 Dudelange (Luxembourg)
Group G: Villarreal (Spain), Rapid Wien (Austria), Spartak Moscow (Russia), Rangers (Scotland)
Group H: Lazio (Italy), Marseille (France), Eintracht Frankfurt (Germany), Apollon Limassol (Cyprus)
Group I: Beşiktaş (Turkey), Genk (Belgium), Malmö FF (Sweden), Sarpsborg 08 (Norway)
Group J: Sevilla (Spain), Krasnodar (Russia), Standard Liège (Belgium), Akhisarspor (Turkey)
Group K: Dynamo Kyiv (Ukraine), Astana (Kazakhstan), Rennes (France), Jablonec (Czech Republic)
Group L: Chelsea (England), PAOK (Greece), BATE Borisov (Belarus), MOL Vidi (Hungary)
The first round of fixtures will commence on September 20, with the final being held at the Olympic Stadium, Baku on May 29.
Fans react to Europa League draw
The 2018/19 Europa League group stage draw brought some mixed reactions from fans of British teams.
Arsenal fans were excited…
Easy group for us.
— OLUKUNLE BENJAMIN O (@Obobanj) August 31, 2018
Vodka fc has 621 followers on twitter
we'll crash them to pieces
pic.twitter.com/I1btZzIV4R
— pαtσhdσuchєzz (@Patrickmtipa_) August 31, 2018
18 points please
— In Emery we trust (@JackTheGooner) August 31, 2018
That's a cracking group, let's get rocking & rolling boys ⚽️
pic.twitter.com/P00trprGkk
— The RacingBlogger (@racingblogger) August 31, 2018
Arsenal already won the group
— Mr. Joe (@Mrjoe_25) August 31, 2018
Chelsea supporters were already imagining lifting the trophy…
Just announce it already pic.twitter.com/DQIbVAWTM6
— BlueBlood (@PricelessHazard) August 31, 2018
Walk in the park
— MG (@hambaa82) August 31, 2018
8-0's for everyone
— Mish (@akwesimishael) August 31, 2018
Happy with that
— tom clifford (@tomcliffordcfc) August 31, 2018
BATE?? Means free points
— U STAR116 (@UStar116) August 31, 2018
Rangers fans were optimistic…
— Dotty (@dottyRFC) August 31, 2018
That's solid. Glad we skipped the next group with Lazio, Marseille and Frankfurt!
— James R. Kennedy (@topclasskennedy) August 31, 2018
Tough group, all solid teams. Villareal will be the main challenge but it's not impossible.
Mon the Bears!
— David Whyte (@Soulstorm99) August 31, 2018
Decent group let’s have it
— Jack David Blair (@Facetwot) August 31, 2018
LET'S GO
⚪
pic.twitter.com/PGaK2uYqFp
— nicky taylor
(@nickyt3232) August 31, 2018
While Celtic were seeing double.
Two amazing football clubs with an amazing history, amazing fans and good football vs an energy drink ! Lets do this @CelticFC and @RBKfotball
— Rollaug Korstad jr (@RKorstad) August 31, 2018
— Paul (@paulsb91) August 31, 2018
Now i know why i hate redbull
— Paul McKigen (@paulmc_96) August 31, 2018
Two teams with the same owners and a team they have already knocked out of europe this season. Europa League is becoming just as much a Joke as CL
— Nigel Reilly (@NigelReilly) August 31, 2018
2 Red Bull teams? Feel like im in the @F1 with @redbullracing and @ToroRosso
— Lone Shadow (@loneshadowblade) August 31, 2018
The post Chelsea and Arsenal learn their Europa League group stage opponents for 2018/19 appeared first on Squawka News.
From Squawka NewsSquawka News https://ift.tt/2PUt8Ij
No comments:
Post a Comment