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European nights at Anfield are slightly less exciting when they're a part of Europe's second biggest club competition, but continental action is nothing to sneeze at and if Liverpool hope to find success on the European stage, there are worse ways of doing that than by cutting their teeth on the variety of teams Europa League has to offer. The club's first three — and hopefully not last three — opponents for the group stage of the tournament will be determined later today as the Europa League draw takes place in Monaco.
Liverpool have been drawn into Pot 2 due to their poor showing on the European stage in the last four seasons, which means the potential to come face to face with Borussia Dortmund, Basel, Napoli, or Athletic Bilbao, amongst others. Teams in the same league cannot be drawn against each other, so Liverpool will avoid Tottenham Hotspur as the only other English team left in the tournament now that both West Ham United and Southampton have bowed out.
| Pot 1 | Pot 2 | Pot 3 | Pot 4 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Schalke 04 | Braga | Monaco | Partizan |
| Borussia Dortmund | Fiorentina | Sparta Prague | Asteras Tripoli |
| Basel | Lazio | Fenerbahçe | Belenenses |
| Napoli | Anderlecht | Legia Warsaw | Rosenborg |
| Tottenham Hotspur | Liverpool | Bordeaux | Qaraba? |
| Ajax | AZ | Lokomotiv Moscow | Molde |
| Villarreal | Viktoria Plzen | Lech Poznan | Dinamo Minsk |
| Rubin Kazan | Club Brugge | Saint-Étienne | Groningen |
| Athletic Bilbao | PAOK | Slovan Liberec | Sion |
| Sporting CP | Celtic | Augsburg | Midtjylland |
| Marseille | Besiktas | Rapid Wien | Skënderbeu Korçë |
| Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk | APOEL | Krasnodar | Gabala |
Draw Date / Time: 12:00pm GMT / 7:00am EST
Online: UEFA.com
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