Thread: Europa League - Martin O'Neill Set For Sensational Return?

So the Champions League dream is over for this season at least. Celtic now find themselves in the group stages of the first ever Europa League Tournament. Anyone who is dismissing this as an easy run to the quarter finals better take notice of the preliminary pots which I have posted below. These are subject to change before the draw on Friday depending on results tonight.

With the likes of Villareal, Roma. Benfica and Zenit St Petersburg in the pot 1, Celtic are in for no easy ride. We find ourselves in the second pot dodging the likes of Everton. But Perhaps the most noticeable and interesting thing is the team in Pot 3. Martin O'Neill's Aston Villa are lying in wait, and if Celtic run of bad luck continues I wouldn't rule this out. Whatever happens it is sure to be an interesting draw.

Pot 1

Werder Bremen
Villarreal
AS Roma
PSV Eindhoven
Shakhtar Donetsk
Zenit St. Petersburg
Sporting CP Lisbon
Hamburger SV
Benfica
Valencia
Panathinaikos
Ajax

Pot 2

Steaua Bucurest
Fenerbahçe
FC Basel
Lille OSC
Celtic
Everton
Club Brugge
Heerenveen
Galatasaray
Anderlecht
Austria Wien
FC København

Pot 3

Lazio
Hertha BSC
Sparta Praha
Dinamo Bucuresti
AEK Athens
Slavia Praha
Metalist Kharkiv
Levski Sofia
Aston Villa
Athletic Bilbao
Partizan Belgrade
Hapoel Tel-Aviv

Pot 4

FC Twente
Dinamo Zagreb
Litex Lovech
Fulham FC
CSKA Sofia
Toulouse
CFR Cluj
Odense
FC Timisoara
FC Salzburg
FK Ventspils
Sheriff Tiraspol

The twelve group-winners and twelve runners-up of the group stage qualify for the second round. The clubs that finish this stage in third or fourth position in their group are eliminated. The 24 teams that qualify are joined with 8 teams from the Champions League who finsihed at the 3th position in the CL group.

The draw for the 2nd round takes the following rules into account:
a) Clubs from the same association must not be drawn against each other,
b) The 12 group-winners and the 4 best third-ranked teams in the Champions League group stage are drawn against the 12 group runners-up and the remaining third-ranked teams in the Champions League group stage,
c) The winners and runners-up of the same group cannot be drawn against each other,
d) Group-winners and the 4 best third-ranked in the Champions League group stage play the return leg at home.

lazio in pot 3 !!!
dangerous teams in each pot tbh

Werder Bremen
Villarreal
AS Roma
PSV Eindhoven
Shakhtar Donetsk
Zenit St. Petersburg
Sporting CP Lisbon
Benfica
Valencia
Panathinaikos
Ajax

CL quality teams.

Originally Posted by rk1888

Werder Bremen
Villarreal
AS Roma
PSV Eindhoven
Shakhtar Donetsk
Zenit St. Petersburg
Sporting CP Lisbon
Benfica
Valencia
Panathinaikos
Ajax

CL quality teams.

Agreed, I was also impressed with Dinamo Zagreb and they are in pot 4, it's gonna be tough but that's how I like it, pointless playing european dross, we have enough dross of our own to contend with in Scotland.

Strike that.

Villa papped out by Rapid

Wont be happening now. Saved you some V's, RB