The draw for the Europa League pool, held at noon on Friday, 27 August in Istanbul, was not in favor of the French teams.
Marseille fell into a very strong group in the Europa League, dominated by Lazio Rome, like Monaco with PSV Eindhoven and Real Sociedad, Lyon inheriting a more affordable group at the end of Friday’s draw in Istanbul.
It will be tough for Om… Lazio leaves him only bad memories, having beaten him four times out of four: 2-0, 5-1 in the second group stage in 1999–2000, with a quadruple return by Simone Inzaghi , then 2-1, 3-1 in the Europa League in 2018-2019. Jorge Sampaoli’s men would also dominate Pool E Lokomotiv Moscow and Galatasaray, winners of C3 in 2000, making them the only Turkish club to win the European Cup. A much denser group, in a new system where only the first qualify for the straight knockout stages, the second for the dam consisting of eight clubs transferred from the Champions League, and the third for the Europa League conference.
Monaco will also have work
The Monaco group is also very tough. PSV Eindhoven remains a great European (C1 1988, C3 1978), directed by 2014 world champion Mario Götz, and Real Sociedad builds a stronghold in the formidable Liga with their great ex David Silva and their great hope, Swede Alexander Has happened. Isaac. Sturm Graz seems to be a cut at the bottom, originating in the early 2000s when it won its group in the Champions League, of which … Monaco finished last. But Sturm (5–0) improved to Louis II with a hat-trick from Marco Simone before ASM lost 2–0 on his return.
Lyon was spared
Villarreal’s former Spanish-Brazilian midfielder Marcos Senna was a light hand for the third French representative Lyon. Rangers, coached by Steven Gerrard, have regained the Scottish title nine years after going bankrupt, but are no longer a European cadre.
They have not shined on the continental scene since the 2007 UEFA Cup final, which they lost against Zenit Saint Petersburg (2–0).
Monaco’s dominance in the third preliminary round of Sparta Prague, C1 (2-0/3-1), and Brndby, a popular club on the outskirts of Copenhagen, seem weak.
other groups are stronger
Among other groups, C is very strong with Napoli, Leicester, Spartak Moscow and Legia Warsaw, and G is three-quarter green, with Celtic Glasgow, horizontally striped green and white, Betis Sevilla, with the same stripes but vertical, and Ferencváros, All Green, the only Hungarian club to win the European Cup, C3 1965.
Bayer Leverkusen brings a touch of red to this group.
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