Europa League Group Draw Revealed: Marseille to Face Tough Challenge, Rennes and Toulouse Also Set for Difficult Matches

Olympique de Marseille wanted the Champions League. The club will play in a group almost that size in the Europa League. OM were not spoiled in the group stage draw this Friday in Monaco, because they inherited Ajax Amsterdam, Brighton and AEK Athens. The Rennais, also from hat 2, are a little better off with Villarreal, Maccabi Haifa and Panathinaikos. Toulouse (hat 4) fell on the giant Liverpool, the Austrians of Linzer ASK and the Union Saint-Gilloise.

For the Marseillais, this pool B will be a very good test, which will allow them to judge their ability to play big European matches. Truth be told, it even looks almost more complicated than their group in the Champions League last season. The Phocaeans will come up against Ajax Amsterdam, regulars in the C1. The men of Pablo Longoria, who repeated this week wanting to “be competitive in the Europa League”, will also have to face Brighton. The English club, a real rising star in the transfer window, was the most feared team in hat 3. Group B is finally made up of AEK Athens, and the trip to Greece will necessarily be dangerous.

Rennes has a chance

After being eliminated in the round of 16 last season, Stade Rennais has the ambition to do better. “We have a homogeneous group. The priority is to get out of the group. Last year, elimination was the big black spot of the season, we will try not to start again”, explained the president Olivier Cloarec at the microphone of Canal +. To give themselves the best chance, the Bretons will have to finish in first place in Pool F.

There will be two great meetings against a regular in Europe, the Spaniards of Villarreal, and more affordable confrontations against Maccabi Haifa and the Greeks of Panathinaikos. Note that the Israelis gave PSG a hard time in C1 last season and that the Greeks eliminated OM in the race for the most prestigious of European competitions this summer.

Bruno Génésio, coach of Stade Rennais.

Credit: Getty Images

Toulouse against the giant Livepool

The TFC will play in Pool E. Qualified in the Europa League thanks to their victory in the Coupe de France and placed in hat 4, the Violets are clearly not favorites. As in the 3rd preliminary round of the 2007-2008 Champions League, the Hauts-Garonnais find Liverpool. The Toulouse team also inherited the Austrians from Linzer ASK and the Belgians from Union Saint-Gilloise.

The 2023-24 Europa League group draw

Ajax Amsterdam (Pays-Bas)

Olympic Marseille (FRA)

Sparta Prague (Czech Republic)

Atalanta Bergamo (Italy)

Sporting Portugal (Portugal)

Rakow Czestochowa (Pologne)

Union Saint-Gilloise (Belgium)

Slavia Prague (Czech Republic)

Sheriff Tiraspol (Moldavie)

Bayer Leverkusen (Germany)

2023-09-01 12:10:00
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