The Europa League draw Friday threw up an intriguing group as two teams associated with Red Bull were drawn against each other in European football’s second tier competition.
Though Uefa prohibits clubs with strong links from playing in Europe in the same season, after a month-long investigation European football’s governing body said in June that both clubs could play in the Champions League, though they subsequently did not qualify for the group stages and will now contest the Europa League instead.
Meanwhile, English Premier League sides Chelsea and Arsenal received relatively favorable draws with the latter in the same group as Azerbaijan’s Qarabag, Ukraine’s FC Vorskla and Portugal’s Sporting Lisbon.
Arsenal are now managed by Spaniard Unai Emery, who guided Sevilla to three consecutive Europa League titles.
Chelsea, who won the competition in 2013, will be favorites to progress as group leaders after being drawn alongside PAOK of Greece, Belarus’ Bate and Hungarian side Vidi.
For the football romantics, FC Dudelange — the first team from Luxembourg to qualify for the competition — will face seven-times European champions AC Milan with both teams in Group F, along with Spain’s Real Betis and Olympiacos of Greece.
The first round of matches take place on September 20, while this season’s final will be held in Azerbaijan’s Baku on May 29.
Europa League group stage draw
Group A: Leverkusen, Ludogorets, Zurich, AEK Larnaca Group B: Salzburg, Celtic, Leipzig, Rosenborg Group C: Zenit, Kobenhavn, Bordeaux, Slavia Praha Group D: Anderlecht, Fenerbahce, Dinamo Zagreb, Spartak Trnava Group E: Arsenal, Sporting CP, Qarabag, Vorskla Group F: Olympiacos, AC Milan, Real Betis, Dudelange Group G: Villarreal, Rapid Wien, Spartak Moskva, Rangers Group H: Lazio, Marseille, Frankfurt, Apollon Group I: Besiktas, Genk, Malmo, Sarpsborg Group J: Sevilla, Krasnodar, Standard Liege, Akhisar Group K: Dynamo Kiev, Astana, Rennes, Jablonec Group L: Chelsea, PAOK, BATE, Vidi
