Nyon (Switzerland) (AFP)

Arsenal, Tottenham and Leicester spoiled.

The three English clubs in the Europa League have inherited groups within their reach on Friday in the draw, while the Italians, led AC Milan, will have to fight to reach the round of 16.

With Rapid Vienna, Molde and Dundalk, the Gunners, finalists of the C3 in 2019 (beaten 4-1 by Chelsea), will have to get out of a rather accessible group B, with a rather rare Anglo-Irish duel in football, against Dundalk.

Ditto for Tottenham.

Spurs, 2019 Champions League finalists (beaten 2-0 by Liverpool), are placed in group J of the "small" European Cup, with Bulgarian champion Ludogorets, Linz and Antwerp after the draw at random on Friday in Nyon (Switzerland).

And Leicester, the Premier League's third representative, will face Portuguese Braga, AEK Athens and Ukraine's Zorya Louhansk in Group G in this group stage, which starts on October 22 and ends on December 10. .

The posters for the 16th round will be completed in December by the teams having finished third in their group in the Champions League.

If luck smiled on the English, the Italians were less varnished.

- Clement for the Spaniards -

AC Milan, which its sporting difficulties in recent years had placed in the third hat, has in fact inherited serious competitors.

The Lombards share Group H with the Scots from Celtic Glasgow, the Czechs from Sparta Prague and the French from Lille.

"It's a balanced group, but not simple. Our opponents all occupy one of the first two places in their respective championships", reacted the Milanese coach Stefano Pioli, the day after the epic qualification of the Rossoneri after an interminable penalty shootout against the Portuguese from Rio Ave.

Naples, eliminated in the 8th of the last C1 by FC Barcelona, ​​inherits for its part a nice opponent: Real Sociedad, versed in group F with the Dutch from AZ Alkmaar and the Croats from Rijeka.

And AS Roma, eliminated last season by future champion Sevilla at the round of 16, fired Young Boys Bern, Romanians from Cluj and Bulgarians from CSKA Sofia.

On the Spanish side, in addition to Real Sociedad, the draw was also rather lenient.

Villarreal, protected by his place in hat 1, enjoys the easiest group in principle, with Azerbaijani champion Qarabag, Israeli Maccabi Tel Aviv and Turks from Sivasspor starting at this level.

And Granada, in their first group stage in C3, draw another debutant in Group E, Cypriots Omonia Nicosia, as well as PSV Eindhoven and PAOK Salonika.

Another possible candidate for the final, scheduled for May 26 in Gdansk (Poland), Benfica Lisbon is placed in Group D with Standard Liège, Glasgow Rangers and Lech Poznan.

© 2020 AFP