It's not the draw that Man United wanted to be in today but here they are nonetheless. The Champions League draw has already been made this morning but the two traditional giants of English football have to make do with Europe's second competition for the rest of this season.
Given the Champions League entry sweetener for the winners however, it's unlikely that anyone will be taking it easy in this competition form here on in. We're down to the round of 32 and the draw is being made in Nyon as we speak.
Liverpool, United and Spurs were all seeded and while they couldn't meet each other, there were still some intriguing ties possible.
A reminder of the seeded and unseeded pots for the #UELdraw ...
What would be the best fixtures? pic.twitter.com/aaNEkeoLxU— UEFA Europa League (@EuropaLeague) December 14, 2015
The first legs take place on 18th February with the second leg taking place on 25th February. The big news as far as the English clubs are concerned is that Spurs will face Fiorentina, Man United will face Midtjylland from Denmark and Liverpool will travel to Germany to face Augsburg.
Europa League Round of 32 Draw:
All in all, that's not a bad draw for either Liverpool or United. Midtjylland won the Danish league last season thanks to a statistical analysis system that had the football nerds around Europe tying themselves in knots. They're currently sitting third this year with another run for the title looking likely. Even at that however, you'd like to think that United, even at the moment, would be confident of overcoming the challenge.
As for Liverpool, Augsburg are not the easiest task they could have faced but they're not the toughest either. A fifth place finish in the Bundesliga last season really took a lot of people by surprise but they started this season rather badly with a recent run of wins having recently brought them out of the relegation zone and into 13th place.
With Fiorentina currently riding high in second place in Serie A, it's fair to say that of the English sides, Spurs very definitely came out with the least appealing draw.
