Europa League group stages are over

The Europa League group stage has ended, and 24 teams have gone through with eight teams coming from the Champions League. United won their group by beating AZ 4-0 on the final day. Arsenal were lucky because they drew 2-2 to Standard Liege, however, Frankfurt were beaten 3-2 by bottom side Vitoria Guimaraes meaning Arsenal still finished top. Wolves finished in second place in their group behind Sporting Braga. Celtic had already finished group winners before the game week and fielded a weaker side who lost the match. Rangers had the chance to be top of their group if they won their final match but could only draw 1-1 away to Young Boys with Porto beating Feyenoord.

The group winners who are the seeded ones are Arsenal, Basel, Braga, Celtic, Espanyol, Gent, İstanbul Başakşehir, LASK, Malmö, Manchester United, Porto, Sevilla. This means that they will play the second leg at home and play an unseeded side. The teams that finished second will be unseeded and are APOEL, AZ Alkmaar, CFR Cluj, Copenhagen, Eintracht Frankfurt, Getafe, Ludogorets, Rangers, Roma, Sporting, Wolfsburg, Wolves. The top four teams that come from the Champions League are: Ajax, Inter, Benfica, and Salzburg and are seeded, with Olympiacos, Shakhtar Donetsk, Club Brugge, Bayer Leverkusen unseeded.

The draw is set to take place on Monday the 16th at 13.00 in UEFA’s headquarters in Nyon Switzerland and will determine who will play who. The first leg matches are set to be played on the 20th of February with the return legs a week later. Teams cannot be drawn with opponents that were either in the same group or from the same country. Manchester United, Arsenal, Inter, Ajax and Sevilla have been made the favourites to win the competition.