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Europa League draw: Arsenal draw FK Ostersunds, Celtic face Zenit St Petersburg

Last updated on .From the section European Footballcomments290

Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers on the pitch with his players after the final whistle.
Celtic finished third in their Champions League group, following last week's home defeat by Anderlecht, to drop into Europe's second-tier competition

Celtic have been drawn against Zenit St Petersburg in the last 32 of the Europa League while Arsenal will face Swedish club FK Ostersunds.

Celtic, who finished third in their Champions League group, will host the Russian club in the first leg on 15 February.

Arsenal, who won their Europa League group and were one of the seeded teams, will travel to Sweden first.

The second legs will be played on 22 February.

Zenit, who beat Rangers in the 2008 final when the tournament was known as the Uefa Cup, are managed by former Manchester City boss Roberto Mancini.

Following a third-place finish last season, they are currently fourth in Russia's Premier League.

FK Ostersunds are managed by an Englishman, former Southampton defender Graham Potter. Under his guidance they have risen from the fourth division to the top flight in six years.

The club was only formed in October 1996, the same month Arsene Wenger became Arsenal manager.

The Gunners have never lost a European match against Swedish opposition, winning three and drawing one.

Meanwhile, 2010 winners Atletico Madrid will play FC Copenhagen, Napoli face RB Leipzig and German club Borussia Dortmund play Italian side Atalanta, who defeated Everton twice in the group stage.

The final will take place at the Parc Olympique Lyonnais on 16 May.

Europa League last-32 draw

Borussia Dortmund v Atalanta

Nice v Lokomotiv Moscow

FC Copenhagen v Atletico Madrid

Spartak Moscow v Athletic Bilbao

AEK Athens v Dynamo Kiev

Celtic v Zenit St Petersburg

Napoli v RB Leipzig

Red Star Belgrade v CSKA Moscow

Lyon v Villarreal

Real Sociedad v Red Bull Salzburg

Partizan Belgrade v Viktoria Plzen

Steaua Bucharest v Lazio

Ludogorets v AC Milan

Astana v Sporting Lisbon

FK Ostersunds v Arsenal

Marseille v Braga

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290 comments

  • Comment posted by WhackamoleExpert, at 12:54 11 Dec 2017

    Glad that Ostersunds got drawn against an English side, it’ll be great to see their story given a bit more coverage now. Hope they do well against the Gunners.

  • Comment posted by goonerrich72, at 13:59 11 Dec 2017

    46. Posted by carefreeckb

    Why are Arsenal so consistently lucky with cup draws ?

    Domestically nearly always drawn at home against lower division opposition !

    Because they're not?!! Last years FA Cup, drawn away 3 times out of a possible 4, one of which against another Premier League team.

    And the CL draws against Barcelona and Bayern Munich, even when group winners?

  • Comment posted by HX, at 12:47 11 Dec 2017

    Can't wait to see Celtic get smashed again, and then have Brenda pipe up with how proud he is, and what an achievement it was to almost win a corner etc. Lol.

  • Comment posted by ictfc, at 14:06 11 Dec 2017

    Good to see the English fans slagging Scotland's "one team league" when their own league has been decided by December

  • Comment posted by MDestro, at 13:59 11 Dec 2017

    Good draw for both teams. Celtic could have drawn a lot worse

    Sad to see all the horrible bitter Scottish-hating little Englanders out in force as usual. Even sadder to see them being upvoted. No wonder half of Scotland wants to leave and the rest of Europe hates us.

    Good luck to Celtic, show these morons up.

  • Comment posted by Joe Public FC, at 14:43 11 Dec 2017

    Having grown up in Ostersund and followed my beloved team rise from the Swedish 4th tier, this is unbelievable!
    My Club has a turnover of £5 million vs Arsenal £420 million.
    This is why I love this sport as sometimes money doesn't buy you success but belief does!

  • Comment posted by samerulesapply, at 12:59 11 Dec 2017

    sadly as a celtic supporter i fear the worst unless brendan spends some coin and buys a defense. bridgeing the quality gap in europe is getting wider every year for the havs and have nots. the gap with us and teams like zenit, dortmund, atletico, arsenal etc is getting wider. it's like the epl trying to compete with man city, they try but at the end of the day they're just making up the numbers.

  • Comment posted by FrankFrank, at 13:11 11 Dec 2017

    Usual crass comments from EPL fans slagging off Celtic. Take away your oil and TV money and you'd be nothing.

  • Comment posted by tommycallaghan, at 14:03 11 Dec 2017

    Anti Celtic comments. Which team do you support? We are still in Europe with minute finances compared to majority of teams.
    We have a lot to look forward to. Eight points separate the first four in our league I'm sure you wish the EPL was the same instead of a one team league. EPL finished by 10th December and our league is easy. Lots of envy about. Merry Christmas to all true football fans

  • Comment posted by MDestro, at 15:13 11 Dec 2017

    Who did Everton get?

    Oh wait, no.. They got utterly destroyed and humiliated just like West Ham, Southampton, Stoke, Birmingham, Newcastle, Wigan and every single other English entrant from out with the big six that's entered this decade

    Time to wake up lads. You call the SPL a pub league? Ours is just as bad outside the top 6. Fourteen awful, awful teams as the Europa League highlights

  • Comment posted by Andy Mack, at 13:13 11 Dec 2017

    No20, you may want to check the facts when you talk about Celtics history, because it's a much stronger History than City.
    Although City are a much better team at the moment, there are times past when they would have been on the wrong end of a 7-1 game with Celtic.

  • Comment posted by lillywhite , at 12:46 11 Dec 2017

    Given Celtic don't have a competitive game until this tie in Feb..they must be favourites..well rested with a beach holiday for three months ...lovely

  • Comment posted by Green67, at 14:40 11 Dec 2017

    Usual "My Team isn't in it so I'm going to bash everyone that is" type of comments on here then.
    Hopefully Celtic can up their game against a dangerous Zenit side.

  • Comment posted by D1710936178377, at 12:56 11 Dec 2017

    Brilliant draw for Ostersunds who fully deserve to be where they are and Arsenal better put out a strong team if they don't want an upset. Graham Potter must be bursting with pride. Its enough to make you want to take up amature dramatics

  • Comment posted by Pingedsole, at 12:49 11 Dec 2017

    I fear for Celtic in Europe all the time and latterly the SPL matches have not been too good. Throwing away a 2 0 lead against Hibs on Sunday was bad. Let's see for BR does in Jan window. Deffo need teh central defence sorted and Lustig in my opinion just can't cope with anyone that has a bit of pace. Ever hopeful but a realist at the same time.

  • Comment posted by parsoup, at 13:14 11 Dec 2017

    Don't fancy us against Zenit. We have too many Euro duds for Brendan to come up with a quick fix. My main worry is that our Euro results have knocked millions off our squads value. I doubt if Tierney, Sinclair, Dembele etc are on any PL teams radar and contrary to what most Celtic fans think - we do need to sell to survive.

  • Comment posted by PeeCeem, at 13:11 11 Dec 2017

    @20 markthelegendkid - were you a fan when city were in the 3rd tier? If you were any kind of city fan then you might have noticed Celtic drew against you twice in the CL last season.

  • Comment posted by Steven Stockley, at 15:44 11 Dec 2017

    So much hate on here. Best of luck to Arsenal and Celtic in their ties.

  • Comment posted by same old England, at 13:25 11 Dec 2017

    The Östersunds story is incredible, how has this not being given the coverage it deserves? I’m glad they’ve been drawn against an English team.

    Celtic have a very difficult tie and if they lost to Anderlecht at home I can’t see them progressing past Zenit over 2 legs

  • Comment posted by Proud Scot but watch BBC, at 13:30 11 Dec 2017

    English teams got money/are better than anyone else. Celtic are bad compared to English teams, & all Scottish teams are bad. This is also a general part of Scotland's inferiority, & England's superiority. Thank you Sky, & Russian & Arab billionaires for making English football so good & highlighting our Scotland's natural, lowly place in the Cosmos (& ta to the classy English fans who remind us).

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