Europa League draw in full as Man Utd face Mourinho reunion and Tottenham handed tricky away ties in new format
MANCHESTER UNITED and Tottenham have discovered their fate in the new-look Europa League with the Red Devils pitted against former boss Jose Mourinho.
The draw also produced two blockbuster Battle of Britains with both Man Utd and Spurs to face Rangers in the league phase.
Erik ten Hag’s men will host the Scottish giants while Ange Postecoglou’s side travel to Glasgow.
Follow SunSport’s live blog of the Europa League draw
Man Utd will travel to Mourinho‘s Fenerbahce where ex-Red Devils midfielder Fred also plies his trade.
Manchester United’s remaining fixtures will see them travel to Porto, Viktoria Plzen and Twente, as well as hosting PAOK, Bodo/Glimtand FCSB.
Spurs face some tricky European away days as they prepare to head to Turkish giants Galatasaray and German side Hoffenheim.
They also go to Hungary to play Ferencvaros.
Tottenham will host Roma, AZ Alkmaar, Qarabag and Elfsborg.
The competition will follow the same format as the new Champions League, with all 36 teams playing eight matches in the “league phase”.
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New Europa League format explained
THE Europa League has been given a revamp this season, with a whole new group-stage format.
All 36 teams are in one big league.
Each team will play eight matches in the opening phase – against seeded opposition, in a system designed to ensure that teams play opponents of similar difficulty.
At the end of the league phase, the top eight teams in the “final” table will automatically go through to the last 16, where they will be joined by the eight play-off winners of ties between the sides placed ninth to 24th in the table.
The bottom 12 teams are eliminated from Europe entirely.
Despite there being just eight matches in the opening phase, European matches will be spread over 10 midweek slots.
The knockout phase of the tournament remains the same as previous years.
The top eight progress straight through to the last-16, with ninth to 24th going into a play-off round.
The bottom eight teams are immediately eliminated.
Another change means no Champions League sides will drop down into the Europa League this season.
On Thursday, Manchester City, Arsenal, Liverpool and Aston Villa learned their Champions League fixtures.
SunSport has a full breakdown of the fixture list for each of the English clubs here.
Man Utd failed to earn European football through their Premier League position last season after they finished eighth.
But their FA Cup triumph over Man City salvaged Europa League football for Ten Hag‘s men.
Tottenham qualified for the Europa League by finishing fifth in the Premier League, two points adrift of the Champions League places.
This year’s final will take place in Bilbao on May 21.