Real Football Man All of the Football, All of the time
With West Ham just one round away from the Europa League group stages they have discovered their opposition and it is a familiar foe. They’ve been paired up with Romanian side Astra Girugiu who themselves claimed the scalp of Slaven Bilic’s side last season. Bowing out so early in their European run would have been frustrating so they will no doubt want to claim revenge for last seasons upset and advance to the competition proper.
Astana who lost to a last minute spot kick at Celtic Park in the Champions Leaque qualifiers have been paired up with BATE Borisov who were sensationally knocked out by Irish Champions Dundalk at the same stage. Turkish giants Fenerbahce who were dumped out by Monaco in the same competition will now face Grasshoppers of Switzerland. While AZ Alkmaar face Vojvodina who knocked out Connah’s Quay of Wales at an earlier stage of the qualifiers
Here is the draw in full (will update with the prettier Wikipedia version later on)
Astana (Kazakhstan) v Bate Borisov (Belarus)
FC Midtjylland (Denmark) v Osmanlispor (Turkey)
AS Trencin (Albania) v Rapid Vienna (Austria)
Arouca (Portugal) v Olympiakos (Greece)
Lokomotiva Zagreb (Croatia) v Genk (Belgium)
Vojvodina (Serbia) v AZ Alkmaar (Netherlands)
Dinamo Tbilisi (Georgia) v PAOK Salonika (Greece)
AEK Larnaca (Cyprus) v Liberec (Czech Republic)
FK Austria Vienna (Austria) v Rosenborg (Norway)
Beitar Jerusalem (Israel) v St Etienne (France)
AA Gent (Belgium) v Shkendija (Macedonia)
Istanbul Basaksehir (Turkey) v Shakhtar Donetsk (Ukraine)
FC Astra Giurgiu (Romania) v West Ham (England)
Sonderjyske (Denmark) v Sparta Prague (Czech Republic)
Fenerbahce (Turkey) v Grasshoppers (Switzerland)
Sassuolo (Italy) v Crvena Zvezda (Serbia)
Brondby (Denmark) v Panathinaikos (Greece)
IFK Gothenburg (Sweden) v FK Qarabag (Azerbaijan)
Krasnodar (Russia) v Partizani Tirana (Albania)
Maccabi Tel-Aviv (Israel) v Hajduk Split (Croatia)
Slavia Prague (Czech Republic) v Anderlecht (Belgium)
Maribor (Slovenia) v Gabala (Azerbaijan)
