Paris (AFP)

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 the draw on Friday in Istanbul.

Chance was a priori more lenient for OL with Glasgow Rangers, Sparta Prague and Danish club Brondby.

Turkish giant Galatasaray and powerful Lokomotiv Moscow complete OM's group E.

Austrian club Sturm Graz is the fourth thief in ASM Pool B, eliminated in the Champions League play-offs.

In the other groups, note the explosive meeting in Pool D between Greeks and Turks at the hot public, Olympiakos Piraeus and Fenerbahçe.

It will be hard for OM ... Lazio leaves him only bad memories, she who beat him four times out of four: 2-0, 5-1 in 1999-2000 in the second group stage, with a quadrupled by Simone Inzaghi on the return, then 2-1, 3-1 in the Europa League in 2018-2019.

Jorge Sampaoli's men will also have to dominate in Pool E Lokomotiv Moscow and Galatasaray, winner of the C3 in 2000, which made them the only Turkish club to win a European Cup.

A very dense group, in a new system where only the first qualifies directly for the knockout stages, the second for a dam with the eight clubs transferred from the Champions League and the third for the new Europa League Conference.

- Lyon-Glasgow Rangers -

The Monaco group is also very tough.

PSV Eindhoven remains a great European (C1 1988, C3 1978), guided by the 2014 world champion Mario Götze, and Real Sociedad remains a stronghold in the formidable Liga, with its great former, David Silva, and his great hope, the Swede Alexander Isak.

The Sturm Graz seems a cut below, its heyday going back to the early 2000s when he won his group in the Champions League, of which ... Monaco had finished last.

But the ASM had corrected the Sturm (5-0) to Louis II, with a hat-trick from Marco Simone, before losing 2-0 on the return.

The Europa League groups after the draw, August 27, 2021 in Istanbul OZAN KOSE AFP

Villarreal's former Spanish-Brazilian midfielder Marcos Senna had a lighter hand for Lyon, the third French representative.

The Rangers coached by Steven Gerrard have regained the Scottish title nine years after their bankruptcy, but are no longer a European cador.

They have not shone on the continental scene since the 2007 UEFA Cup final, lost against Zenit Saint Petersburg (2-0).

Sparta Prague, dominated by Monaco in the 3rd preliminary round of C1 (2-0 / 3-1) and Brondby, a popular club from the outskirts of Copenhagen, seem weaker.

In the other groups, the C is very strong with Napoli, Leicester, Spartak Moscow and Legia Warsaw, and the G three quarters green, with Celtic Glasgow, horizontally striped green and white, Betis Sevilla, with the same stripes but vertical, and Ferencvaros, all green, the only Hungarian club to win a European Cup, the C3 1965.

Bayer Leverkusen brings a touch of red to this group.

© 2021 AFP