Europa League: Man Utd In Mourinho’s Reunion In New Format

Sharing is caring

The draws for the new look Europa League have been made with Scottish club Rangers taking on both Manchester United and Tottenham.

Rangers will play Spurs at Ibrox and travel to Old Trafford to play Manchester United their first meeting in 14 years.

Each team plays eight fixtures in the ‘league phase’, with this year’s men’s tournament following the Champions League in having a radical change, including the end of a group stage.

United will travel to Fenerbahce to reunite with former boss Jose Mourinho, while they also play Mourinho’s old side Porto away.

Tottenham host Roma, with away games against Galatasaray and Hoffenheim.

Rangers’ other fixtures include a difficult trip to last season’s Conference League champions Olympiakos and French side Nice.

Meanwhile in the Conference League, Chelsea will host League of Ireland side Shamrock Rovers, while Welsh side The New Saints have a trip to Italy to play Fiorentina.

Scottish Premiership side Hearts play Copenhagen who lost to Manchester City in the last 16 of the Champions League last season.

The expanded 36-team Europa League sees each team play eight games – four at home and four away – in the league system, against two opponents from each of the four seeding pots.

Teams who finish in the top eight will qualify automatically for the last 16, while those who place ninth to 24th will compete in a two-legged knockout play-off for the chance to join them.

Whoever finishes 25th or lower will be eliminated and will not be entered into the Conference League.

Europa League action begins on 25-26 September, and with the increased number of fixtures, the league phase runs until 30 January rather than finishing before Christmas.

The Conference League is slightly different in that there are still just six games, with sides playing three games at home and three away.

League phase action begins on 3 October and runs until 19 December.