Europa League draw: Arsenal handed TWO mammoth trips, Chelsea take on motley crew, Celtic get double dose of Red Bull and Rangers face the arguably toughest group of the lot.
Arsenal were handed two mammoth trips across the continent in Friday's Europa League group stage draw while Chelsea will be confident of progressing with ease.
Unai Emery, a three-time Europa League champion with Sevilla, will lead the Gunners on an 8,000 mile round-trip to Azerbaijan and Ukraine for games against Qarabag and Vorskla Poltava. Portuguese side Sporting Lisbon completed Group E.
Maurizio Sarri's first European campaign with Chelsea will see them play in Group L alongside Greek side PAOK, BATE Borisov of Belarus and Vidi in Hungary.
Last year's beaten finalists Marseille will begin their journey to go one step better than last season in Group H against Lazio, Frankfurt and Apollon Limassol.
European giants AC Milan dodged one of the big names from pot one and landed a date with Olympiacos, who beat Burnley on Thursday night to claim their place in the group stage. The Rossoneri will also go up against Real Betis and Dudelange of Luxembourg.
Former champions Zenit St Petersburg will take on Danish side Copenhagen, Ligue 1 side Bordeaux and Czech team Slavia Prague in Group C.
Europa League group stage draw in full:
Group A
Bayer Leverkusen
Ludogorets
FC Zurich
AEK Larnaca
Red Bull Salzburg
Celtic
RB Leipzig
Rosenborg
Zenit St Petersburg
FC Copenhagen
Bordeaux
Slavia Prague
Anderlecht
Fenerbache
Dinamo Zagreb
Spartak Tranava
Arsenal
Sporting
Qarabag
FC Vorskla
Olympiakos
Milan
Real Betis
Dudelange
Villarreal
Rapid Vienna
Spartak Moscow
Rangers
Lazio
Marseille
Frankfurt
Apollon Limassol
Besiktas
Genk
Malmo
Sarpsborg
Sevilla
Krasnodar
Standard Liege
Akhisharspor
Dynamo Kiev
FC Astana
Rennes
Jablonec
Chelsea
PAOK
BATE Borisov
Vidi FC
Fixture dates:
20 September: Group stage, matchday one
4 October: Group stage, matchday two
25 October: Group stage, matchday three
8 November: Group stage, matchday four
29 November: Group stage, matchday five
13 December: Group stage, matchday six
The top two teams from each of the 12 groups will progress to knockout rounds in February 2019.
