It was a close call for the French clubs.

Fate was kind to Monaco, Rennes and Nice, who avoided the leaders of the European Cups on Friday August 26 in the draw, while Nantes will have to negotiate perilous confrontations against Friborg and Olympiakos and a distant trip in Azerbaijan against Qarabag.

The day after a Champions League draw favorable to Marseille and Paris SG, fate smiled again on French clubs on Friday in Istanbul, where the representatives of Ligue 1 in the Europa League avoided Arsenal, Manchester United, AS Rome or Lazio Rome.

Ditto Nice in the Europa League Conference, where Villarreal and West Ham, two scarecrows, will not cross paths with the Gym.

Monaco, switched back to C3 like last year after failing to qualify for C1, hopes to do better than the round of 16 lost to Braga last season (2-0, 1-1).

The Monegasque club's pool is rather open even if the atmosphere in the opposing stands promises to be hot for the Principality's club, more used to the cozy atmosphere of the Louis-II stadium: the Red Star of Belgrade and its legendary Marakana stadium , the Hungarians of Ferencvaros, who dream of an epic until the final scheduled in Budapest, and Trabzonspor, recent champion of Turkey with always boiling supporters.

"A somewhat exotic draw"

"These are not very sexy names for the supporters but they are three defending champions in their country, three teams which remain on a good dynamic. It will not be an easy road", underlined the Monegasque coach Philippe Clement.

For Rennes, for which this is the fifth European campaign in a row, "it's a somewhat exotic draw", remarks president Olivier Cloarec: on the menu, a trip to Turkish soil, to Istanbul against Fenerbahçe, and a trip in Cyprus to face the modest club of Larnaca.

But the Bretons will also have a very symbolic confrontation to play against Dynamo kyiv, a club very tested by the war in Ukraine, which played their recent European preliminary rounds in Lodz, Poland.

"We don't know where we are going to play," warned Cloarec.

The club from the Ukrainian capital is nevertheless gradually resuming its daily life with the restart of the national championship.

Rennais and Ukrainians had already faced each other in the same competition in 2018-2019, with two victories for Dynamo (3-1 and 2-1).

Placed in hat N.4, that of the teams with the lowest UEFA index, FC Nantes knew it was threatened in the draw.

The Canaries will have to do with a strong group including Olympiakos, Qarabag and Fribourg, in this competition which starts on September 8.

A very tight group stage 

For the winner of the Coupe de France, who returns to Europe 18 years after participating in the Intertoto Cup, remains to bet on the fervor of the Beaujoire stadium to hope to see the knockout phase.

Scarecrow of the group stage, Manchester United inherited in particular from Real Sociedad.

As for the Arsenal players, back in the European Cup after a historic absence last season, they will challenge PSV Eindhoven, the Norwegians of Bodo / Glimt and Zurich in group A.

All the big clubs being placed in the first pot, no major shock is to be expected during the group stage, which is very tight in the calendar (8 September – 3 November) due to the holding of the World Cup in Qatar. from November 20.

Realized in stride, the draw for the groups of the second edition of the Europa League Conference rather smiled at Nice, the only French representative in this C4.

The Gym feared Villarreal and West Ham, they finally inherited Cologne, Partizan Belgrade and the Czechs of 1.FC Slovacko, a balanced pool.

But after a qualification snatched Thursday in the last minutes of the extension of the dam against Maccabi Tel-Aviv (2-0 ap, go: 0-1), the people of Nice are especially happy to have their European ticket in hand.

With AFP

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