Europa League draw LIVE: Man United will face Champions League dropouts BARCELONA in the play-off round as Erik ten Hag’s men are handed tough tie… with Juventus taking on Nantes

Follow Sportsmail’s live blog for the Europa League draw, with the Europa Conference League draw to shortly follow. 

Host commentator

Despite being reinstated into the team in recent weeks – and even captaining United in Sunday’s defeat to Aston Villa, there is still uncertainty over the future of Cristiano Ronaldo.

With a much-anticipated fixture to come against his old rivals Barcelona – Ronaldo has scored 20 times against the Catalan giants, which is the most of any player in history, the Portuguese superstar may be keen to hang around a little longer at Old Trafford.

United’s elongated pursuit of Frenkie de Jong in the summer took up much of their attempted transfer dealings.

Barcelona were keen to force the Dutch midfielder out as they looked to balance their finances, with Erik ten Hag seeing De Jong as the missing piece for his team.

However, he was reportedly unwilling to move due to his reluctance to play Europa League football.

Not only has he now dropped into the competition he was so desperate to avoid, but he will also face the side he rejected.

It will be interesting to see what sort of reception he gets when he runs out at Old Trafford in just over three months time. 

The draw in full can be found below, with the headline news no doubt Barcelona’s clash with Manchester United.

Just a reminder that these ties will take place on successive Thursdays next year – February 16 and February 23.

With the eight ties being drawn out, many eyes will be on serial Europa League winners Sevilla who have won the tournament a record six times. 

They face a tough tie against PSV Eindhoven who dominated Arsenal last month in the group stage when they beat them 2-0.

It won’t be an easy game for Sevilla who themselves are enduring a torrid season as they are only outside the LaLiga relegation zone on goal difference currently. 

Jose Mourinho’s Roma head to RB Salzburg – the Austrian have proven in recent years to be a dangerous outfit in Europe. 

Mourinho’s side have pedigree – having been victorious in the Europa Conference League last season. 

It’s fair to say the reaction from Man United fans has been much of frustration at drawing perhaps the most dangerous opponent they could have.

The fact this is a Europa League knockout game is perhaps a sign of how far both clubs have fallen.

In 2008-09 and 2010-11 this was the Champions League final with a Lionel Messi-inspired Barcelona coming out on top on both occasions – 2-0 and 3-1 respectively.

Erik ten Hag’s side will be out for revenge and they may also come face-to-face with their long-time target Frenkie de Jong.

If there was one team Erik ten Hag would have wanted to avoid, it would probably have been Barcelona.

United were drawn as the first seeded team to be paired with the Catalan giants.

After elimination from the Champions League, Xavi had claimed his side were favourites for the competition.

They were disappointing in Europe’s premier club competition, picking up just one point from four games against Bayern Munich and Inter Milan – but they are flying high at the top of LaLiga with 11 wins from 13 games.

It won’t be an easy game at all for United but they do have the benefit of playing the second leg at Old Trafford.

BARCELONA VS MANCHESTER UNITED

JUVENTUS VS NANTES

SPORTING LISBON VS MIDTJYLLAND

SHAKHTAR DONETSK VS STADE RENNAIS

AJAX VS UNION BERLIN

BAYER LEVERKUSEN VS AS MONACO

SEVILLA VS PSV EINDHOVEN

RB SALZBURG VS ROMA

We are just being informed of some stipulations over the draw if two teams from the same country are drawn together. 

And now there is another run through of the teams that are part of this draw from Marchetti. 

Giorgio Marchetti has now taken over coverage of the draw after doing the same with the Champions League earlier. 

The UEFA deputy general secretary and draw doyen is on stage to introduce how the draw will work, while he is also giving us a run through of some of the highlights from the group stage.

Former Fulham and West Brom favourite Zoltan Gera is today’s special guest – the former Hungarian winger is an ambassador for this year’s competition and was part of Fulham’s memorable run to the final in 2009-10.

Gera is the current boss of Hungary’s Under-21 side. 

Pedro Pinto, a Portuguese journalist is hosting the coverage for the draw and is just giving us a final run through all of the teams that are part of it.

A rather intriguing team is Union Berlin, who are in a surprise third place in the Bundesliga – they had been top for the majority of the season until they were thrashed 5-0 by Bayer Leverkusen at the weekend.

As the only British side in this knockout round, the big question is who Erik ten Hag’s side will draw.

They will be keen to avoid Barcelona, Juventus and Ajax, but none of the sides dropping down will be easy.

Sporting Lisbon showed how dangerous an outfit they were against Tottenham, while RB Salzburg pushed Chelsea in both games against them in the group stage.

The neutrals would perhaps like to see a United – Ajax clash with Lisandro Martinez, Ten Hag and Antony all then heading back to Amsterdam after moving to Old Trafford in the summer.

Just a reminder of which teams are involved in today’s draw in Nyon, Switzerland.

It must also be noted that the second-placed Europa League teams WILL draw a side from a side that has dropped out of the Champions League. 

Knockout round play-off teams ✅

ℹ️ #UELdraw
📅 Monday 7 November
⏲️ 13:00 CET#UEL pic.twitter.com/ObuAPFt9OD

As the build-up continues to the draw, the big question on everyone’s lips is who are the tournament favourites.

The final this year is taking place at Budapest’s Puskás Aréna on May 31 2023.

Who'll be lifting this in Budapest?#UELdraw | #UEL pic.twitter.com/WVb5qagxnI

The Champions League draw has just concluded and you can follow all the live reaction to that below. 

The draw in full is as follows with some mouth-watering ties in there.

RB Leipzig vs Manchester City

Club Brugge vs Benfica

Liverpool vs Real Madrid

AC Milan vs Tottenham Hotspur

Eintracht Frankfurt vs Napoli

Borussia Dortmund vs Chelsea

Inter Milan vs Porto

Paris Saint-Germain vs Bayern Munich

I’m sure Erik ten Hag’s side were hoping to avoid the play-off round but unfortunately their 1-0 win against Real Sociedad on Thursday was not enough to earn them top spot in Group E. 

United needed to win by a margin of two or more goals in Spain and, despite getting off to the perfect start in the 17th minute thanks to Alejandro Garnacho’s smart strike, the Red Devils failed to find the net again in a frustrating evening.

They were made to pay for a costly defeat at Old Trafford when they slipped to a 1-0 defeat against the Spanish outfit back in September.

We also will be bringing you live coverage of the draw for the Europa Conference League play-off round following the conclusion of the Europa League draw. 

Like the Europa League, group winners – which include West Ham, will progress directly to the last 16. 

Second placed teams in their groups will be joined by Europa League drop-outs. 

The full list of teams is: 

SEEDED

Anderlecht (BEL)
Basel (SUI)
CFR Cluj (ROU)
Dnipro-1 (UKR)
Fiorentina (ITA)
Gent (BEL)
Lech (POL)
Partizan (SRB)

UNSEEDED

AEK Larnaca (CYP)
Bodø/Glimt (NOR)
Braga (POR)
Lazio (ITA)
Ludogorets (BUL)
Qarabağ (AZE)
Sheriff (MDA)
Trabzonspor (TUR)

The ties for the play-off round will take place on February 16 and February 23, with the seeded teams being at home in the second legs.

There are no away-goals anymore in European competitions, meaning if the scores are level after two legs and extra time, ties will go to a penalty shoot-out.

No teams from the same country can be drawn against each other and the winners progress to the last 16 stage of the competition. 

Ahead of the draw taking place imminently, Sportsmail analysed the Champions League drop-outs and handed each side a difficulty rating.  

You can see which side Sportsmail rated as the most feared opponent below.

In terms of how the Europa League format works, 16 teams from the eight groups progressed to the knockout stages.

However, while the second place sides are in this play-off round, the group winners have automatically progressed to the round of 16.

This included Arsenal, who topped Group A with five wins from six games.

Other group winners were Fenerbache, Real Betis, Union Saint-Gilloise, Real Sociedad, Feyenoord, Freiburg and Ferencvarosi. 

With the Champions League draw currently underway, there are several teams who will be disappointed not to be involved with that – none more so perhaps than Barcelona, who invested heavily in their side in the summer in an attempt to be heavily competitive at that level again.

Along with the Catalan giants, fellow club who attempted to form the breakaway European Super League in Juventus are also involved.

Ajax are another dangerous unseeded outfit, while Shakhtar Donetsk are also in the draw after the Ukrainian side narrowly missed out on remarkably qualifying for the Champions League knockout stages.

There are 16 teams in the draw: the eight runners-up from the Europa League group stage will be seeded, while the eight third-placed teams from the Champions League group stage will be unseeded and drop down into the competition. 

Seeded teams
Manchester United (ENG)
Midtjylland (DEN)
Monaco (FRA)
Nantes (FRA)
PSV Eindhoven (NED)
Rennes (FRA)
Roma (ITA)
Union Berlin (GER)

Unseeded teams
Ajax (NED)
Barcelona (ESP)
Juventus (ITA)
Leverkusen (GER)
Salzburg (AUT)
Sevilla (ESP)
Shakhtar Donetsk (UKR)
Sporting CP (POR)

Hello and welcome to Sportsmail’s live blog of the Europa League draw, which gets underway at 12pm UK time. 

Manchester United and Jose Mourinho’s Roma are among the sides who are set to discover their opponents in the knockout play-off round. 

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