Leicester face Napoli, tough draw for Celtic in Europa League

ISTANBUL: Leicester City will face Napoli in this season's Europa League, while Celtic found itself in a tough section alongside Bayer Leverkusen and Real Betis in Friday's draw for the group stage.

As well as Napoli, Leicester will play Spartak Moscow and Legia Warsaw in Group C as it looks to do better than its run to the last 32 of last season's competition.

The Foxes narrowly missed out on qualification for the Champions League last season, finishing fifth in the Premier League but winning the FA Cup.

Napoli, which won the UEFA Cup with Diego Maradona in its ranks in 1989, came fifth in Serie A last season. It has since appointed Luciano Spalletti as coach.

Spartak came second in the Russian Premier League last season and lost to Benfica in the Champions League third qualifying round.

Polish champions Legia also lost in the Champions League third qualifying round, going out to Dinamo Zagreb.

Celtic too failed to make it through Champions League qualifying under new coach Ange Postecoglou but it scraped past AZ Alkmaar in the Netherlands on Thursday to make the Europa League group stage.

Its reward was a place in Group G with former UEFA Cup winners Leverkusen, Betis and Ferencvaros.

The Hungarian champion was beaten by Young Boys in the Champions League play-off round. It knocked Celtic out in Champions League qualifying last season.

Rangers, which beat Celtic to last season's Scottish title, will face French giants Lyon, Sparta Prague and Danish champions Brondby in Group A.

Steven Gerrard's team lost to Malmo of Sweden in the Champions League third qualifying round but scraped past Alashkert of Armenia in the Europa League play-offs this midweek.

West Ham United was England's other representative in the draw made in Istanbul, making a rare appearance in Europe after coming sixth in the Premier League last season.

The first round of group fixtures will be played on September 16. Agencies

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