Atletico Madrid and Celtic join Arsenal in Europa League

  • Arsenal will be joined by several sizeable teams in the Europa League knockouts
  • Atletico Madrid the biggest team to crash out of Champions League groups 
  • Celtic and Sporting Lisbon among teams to also enter the Round of 32 draw
  • Borussia Dortmund another contender for the Europea League title this season 

Arsenal’s quest to win the Europa League for the first time in their history has become a significantly tougher prospect after the introduction of several prominent teams into the Round of 32 draw.

The eight Champions League teams who finished third in their groups earned the consolation prize of a place in UEFA’s second-tier competition with two-time finalists Atletico Madrid among the biggest of the lot.

Diego Simeone’s men were instantly installed as one of the favourites to win the Europa League after falling at the expense of Chelsea and Roma in their group.

Antoine Griezmann will look to fire Atletico Madrid to European success in the Europa League

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE THIRD-PLACED TEAMS 

Group A – CSKA Moscow

Group B – Celtic

Group C – Atletico Madrid

Group D –  Sporting Lisbon

Group E – Spartak Moscow

Group F – Napoli

Group G – RB Leipzig

Group H – Borussia Dortmund

Another likely contender for the title will be Borussia Dortmund after they brought an end to a disastrous Champions League campaign, losing 3-2 against Real Madrid on Wednesday.

 The German club were unable to cope with fellow big-hitters Tottenham and Real Madrid in their group and were also unable to beat Cypriot side Apoel Nicosia in either of their two ties.

With the likes of Marco Reus, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Mario Gotze in their ranks, even an out-of-form Dortmund will be a team Arsenal will want to avoid in the early stages of the Europa League knockout rounds.

Napoli will also fancy their chances of making it to the latter stages of the competition after missing out on a place in the Champions League Round of 16 to Shakthar Donetsk.

Borussia Dortmund endured a group stage campaign to forget and also drop to Europa League

Borussia Dortmund endured a group stage campaign to forget and also drop to Europa League

Spartak Moscow's defence looked awful at Liverpool; they lost 7-0 in their final group game

Spartak Moscow’s defence looked awful at Liverpool; they lost 7-0 in their final group game

The Italians gave Manchester City a run for their money in both of their group games, but lost on the final matchday to Feyenoord to leave them well off qualification for the next stage.

Despite that, they look capable of breezing past Europa League teams of a significantly smaller standing in the latter stages of the second-tier competition.

Scottish champions Celtic will also be in the Europa League draw after finishing third ahead of Anderlecht on head-to-head record but they were both well behind eventually qualifiers Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain.

Scott Brown will lead Celtic into the Europa League after their Champions League exit

Scott Brown will lead Celtic into the Europa League after their Champions League exit

With just three points to show from their group campaign, Celtic will go into the Europa League draw unseeded and can therefore face Arsenal in the first knockout round.

Sporting Lisbon and CSKA Moscow both went into the final round of matches with a slim hope of making it into the next stage of the Champions League but fell after defeats the Barcelona and Manchester United respectively. 

Leipzig lost to Group G winners Besiktas on Wednesday night, leaving them three points off second-placed Porto and therefore out of the Champions League.

In Liverpool’s Group E, Spartak Moscow ended their group stage run with a disastrous 7-0 defeat at Anfield. They will hope to fare better in the Europa League.

The Europa League Round of 32 draw will take place at UEFA headquarters in Nyom at 12pm GMT on December 11 with the resulting ties to be played in principle on 15 and 22 February.



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