Draw is on Monday December 11 at 7 am ET | 4 am PT Qualified Teams: Seeded: AC Milan (ITA), Arsenal (ENG), Atalanta (ITA), Athletic Club (ESP), Atlético Madrid* (ESP), Braga (POR), CSKA Moskva* (RUS), Dynamo Kyiv (UKR), Lazio (ITA), Leipzig* (GER), Lokomotiv Moskva (RUS), Plzeň (CZE), Salzburg (AUT), Sporting CP* (POR), Villarreal (ESP), Zenit (RUS) Unseeded: AEK Athens (GRE), Astana (KAZ), Celtic* (SCO), Crvena zvezda (SRB), Dortmund* (GER), FCSB (ROU), København (DEN), Ludogorets (BUL), Lyon (FRA), Marseille (FRA), Napoli* (ITA), Nice (FRA), Östersund (SWE), Partizan (SRB), Real Sociedad (ESP), Spartak Moskva* (RUS) *denotes transfer from Champions League
Worst case scenario is probably drawing Dortmund, followed by Napoli and the French teams Lyon, Merseille and Nice
We can definitely do well in this competition. It's important to bring up our ranking. Speaking of which, new UEFA rankings show we've gone up from 57th to 44th in Europe and have passed Braga, who went up to 50th place. Porto went up to 9th in Europe while Benfica dropped to 14th place. Also, since the rankings look at the last 5 years of european competition, the year where we did not go to Europe will disappear; that coupled with a good campaign in Europe this season can really shoot us up the ranking.
Draw happening right now. So far the heavier teams have already been drawn (i..e dortmund, napoli) Three teams left to be drawn for sporting. One of them is Marseille. Braga still hasnt been drawn either... EDIT: We are going to Kazakhstan to play Astana
Historical average in Astana, Kazakhstan for the 15th of February are a high of -10°C and a low of -19°C So... yeah, pretty ********ing cold