Athletic Club vs Roma and Real Sociedad vs Lazio in the Europa League

Mónaco. A double Basque-Roman duel in the group stage of the Europa League, the draw for which took place this Friday in Monaco: Athletic Club will face AS Roma as its main rival, while Real Sociedad will have to face Lazio.

Red and white and txuriurdines They will be the only Spanish representatives in the second European competition, which this year emulates the format of the Champions League, with 36 teams, each of them with eight rivals in the first phase.

Former Athletic Club player Aritz Aduriz officiated as one of the ‘innocent hands’ in the draw, who provided for his former team, in addition to the team Yellow-redthe Czech Slavia Prague, the Turkish Fenerbahçe, directed by José Mourinho, the Dutch AZ Alkmaar, the Bulgarian Ludogorets, the Czech Viktoria Pilsen, the Turkish Besiktas and the Swedish Elfsborg.

Slavia, AZ, Pilsen and Elfsborg will visit San Mamés, while Ernesto Valverde’s men, who are returning to Europe after a six-year absence, will have difficult away trips to the Olympic Stadium in Rome or the double-header in Istanbul.

Real Sociedad will also face Ajax Amsterdam, Greek PAOK Salonika, Israeli Maccabi Tel-Aviv, Ukrainian Dynamo kyiv, French Nice, Czech Viktoria Pilsen and Belgian Anderlecht.

Real will host Ajax, Dynamo kyiv, PAOK and Anderlecht, playing away against the other four rivals.

“The fact that we’re in the draw is great news. We’re going to have four home games and four away games, which is something new for everyone, but I think we can have a great competition. We’ve been drawn against historic teams and I’m convinced that there’s a very good team and we’re going to compete as always,” said Xabi Prieto, former Real player and now institutional representative of the San Sebastian side.

Each team will play eight matches in the group stage, four at home and four away, with the top eight teams in the overall standings of the 36 teams sealing their place in the last 16. Those ranked between 9th and 24th will play a two-legged play-off to complete the last 16, while this season there will be no teams eliminated from the group stage. Champions that they end up in the Europa League.

The first phase will also feature other high-profile clashes, such as Porto-Manchester United or Tottenham-Roma. The Red Devils will also face Fenerbahce, led by their former coach José Mourinho.

UEFA said the dates and order of matches would be announced on Saturday, with the first matchday taking place on 25 and 26 September.

The Europa League final will be held on 21 May in Bilbao. Atalanta won the trophy last season after defeating Bayer Leverkusen in the final in Dublin.