Real Football Man All of the Football, All of the time
The Europa League Play-Off Draw has been made and the 44 teams at this stage of the competition now know what is the final hurdle before they can go on to reach the group stages of the competition.
Everton will not have too much cause to celebrate after being paired with Hadjuk Split of Croatia. They will arguably be more tested than in the previous round when they only managed two slender wins against Slovakian outfit MFK Ruzomberok and will have to raise their level of performances should they wish to advance.
They are the only British representative in the draw and Rosenborg who were knocked out of the Champions League by Celtic have been paired with last season’s runners up Ajax who themselves were knocked out of the same competition by Mario Balotelli’s Nice.
AC Milan’s return to European football continues as they are paired with Shkendija of Macedonia – a tie that should cause little drama while the other big names in the hat Athletic Bilbao and Marseille face Panathinaikos and Domzale respectively. The later will be remembered by West Ham fans as they faced off in the first ever competitive game at the Olympic Stadium
Here is the draw in full, ties to be played on August 14th and 28th
