Betis and Villarreal have a friendly draw with Rangers and Stade Rennes as rivals in the Europa League

MADRID, 1 Sep. (EUROPA PRESS) -

Real Betis and Villarreal had a friendly draw for the 2023-24 Europa League group stage, held this Friday at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco, and they will face Rangers, Sparta Prague and Aris Limassol, and Stade Rennes, Maccabi Haifa and Panathinaikos, respectively.

Betis has been framed in Group C, in which they will have Scottish Rangers as their most difficult opponent, with the Czech Sparta Praga and the Cypriot Aris Limassol completing the group.

The Scots, runners-up in their country's last league, come from being defeated by a resounding 7-2 in the Champions League qualifier against Dutch PSV. Despite this, it is a very experienced team in European competitions, and maintains practically the same block as last season. Season in which he participated in the Champions League, finishing last in a group made up of Naples, Liverpool and Ajax.

The Czech Sparta Prague emerges as the main alternative to Betis and Rangers for the first two places in the group, with the visit to the Epet Arena being one of the main obstacles that Manuel Pellegrini's team will have to overcome. Finally, Cypriot Aris Limassol, one of the rivals preferred by the teams in the draw, closes the group.

For its part, Villarreal has been placed in Group F and will face, on its return three seasons later to the Europa League, French Stade Rennes, Israeli Maccabi Haifa and Greek Panathinaikos.

The French Stade Rennes, fourth classified in the last Ligue 1, will be, a priori, the main rival of the Spanish team in the fight for the first position in the group. The French, who have started the league without defeat in the first three rounds, have seen their best player last season, Jeremy Doku, leave for Manchester City. Despite this, the arrival of important footballers like Nemanja Matic and the continuity of others like Kalimuendo and Gouiri make it an uncomfortable rival.

The quality of the Maccabi Haifa and Panathinaikos squads is inferior to that of the team led by Quique Setién. However, Greece and Israel will be two very uncomfortable outings for the 'submarine', who will have to get positive results from them if they do not want to see their qualification for the playoffs complicated.

In addition to the groups of the Spanish teams, Group B stands out, made up of Ansu Fati's Brighton (England), Marseille (France), Ajax (Netherlands) and AEK (Greece). Four high-level teams that will qualify for the next round.

Finally, one of the main candidates for the title, Liverpool (England), will face LASK (Austria), Union Saint-Gilloise (Belgium) and Toulouse (France) in Group E, in a group in which, despite Unless it's simple, Klopp's men are very favourites.

-- EUROPE LEAGUE GROUPS.

- GROUP A: West Ham, Freiburg, Olympiacos, TSC.

Group B: Brighton, Marseille, Ajax, AEK.

- GROUP C: REAL BETIS, Sparta Prague, Aris, Rangers.

- GROUP D: Sturm Graz, Atalanta, Sporting Portugal, Rakow.

- GRUPO E: Liverpool, LASK, Union Saint-Gilloise, Toulouse.

- GROUP F: VILLARREAL, Stade Rennais, Panathinaikos, Macabbi Haifa.

- GRUPO G: Roma, Slavia Praga, Sheriff, Servette.

- GROUP H: Bayer Leverkusen, Molde, Qarabag, Häcken.