Europa League draw: Hammerless for Lazio, Milan against Real Betis and Olympiacos

The group could hardly have been more interesting for Lazio. The Romans will face last year's finalists Olympique Marseille, Eintracht Frankfurt and Apollon Limassol from Cyprus. The Roman club manager Angelo Peruzzi claimed: “We have the most difficult group possible”. Milan had better luck and has beatable opponents in Olympiacos Piraeus, Real Betis and the surprise team from Luxembourg Dudelange.

Leipzig, which secured participation through the qualifying round, will face Red Bull Salzburg in Group B. The Austrians are also heavily supported by the beverage company. The other opponents are Celtic Glasgow and Rosenborg Trondheim from Norway. Bayer Leverkusen plays in Group A against Ludogorets Razgrad from Bulgaria, FC Zurich and AEK Larnaka from Cyprus.

On the sidelines of the draw, Antoine Griezmann was named the best player of the past Europa League season by UEFA. The Frenchman beat Diego Godin (Atletico Madrid) and Dimitri Payet.

The first matchday takes place on September 20th, the group phase ends on December 13th. The final will take place on May 29, 2019 in Baku/Azerbaijan.

All groups at a glance: Group a: Leverkusen Ludogorets Zurich Larnaca Group B: Salzburg Celtic Leipzig Rosenborg

Group C: Zenit St. Petersburg FC Copenhagen Girondins Bordeaux Slavia Prague Group D: RSC Anderlecht Fenerbahce Istanbul Dinamo Zagreb Spartak Trnava

Group E: Arsenal FC Sporting Lisbon Qarabag Agdam Vorskla Poltava

Group F: Olympiakos Piraeus AC Milan Real Betis Dudelange

Group G: Villarreal CF Rapid Vienna Spartak Moscow Glasgow Rangers

Group H: Lazio Marseille Frankfurt Apollo

Group I: Besiktas KRC Genk Malmö FF Sarpsborg

Group J: F.C. Seville FC Krasnodar Standard Liege Akhisarspor Group K: Dynamo Kyiv FC Astana Stade Rennes FK Jablonec

Group L: Chelsea PAOK Thessaloniki BATE Borisov MOL See

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Europa League draw: Hammerless for Lazio, Milan against Real Betis and Olympiacos

The draw in Monaco produced some very interesting encounters. Group H in particular with Lazio, Marseille and Frankfurt is tough.

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