Trio to begin a long road

– Manchester United and last year’s finalists Arsenal headline an English trio that also features Europa League newcomers Wolves while record five-time champions Sevilla figure to be among the primary contenders as the group stage begins tonight.

Scottish rivals Celtic and Rangers face testing paths to the knockout rounds as bitter foes Roma and Lazio bid to end Italy’s two-decade wait for the title.

Porto, PSV Eindhoven and Feyenoord are the other former European Cup winners in a competition that will welcome the eight third-place finishers from the Champions League groups for the knockout phase.

United, Europa League winners in 2017, will host Astana in Group L as Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s (above) side face opponents from Kazakhstan for the first time in the club’s history.

They will expected to progress with relative ease from a group that also includes Partizan Belgrade and former finalists AZ Alkmaar of the Netherlands.

Unai Emery’s Arsenal return to the competition after last season’s 4-1 defeat by Chelsea in the final in Baku saw the Blues pip them to Champions League qualification.

The Gunners visit Eintracht Frankfurt to kick off their campaign, with 10-time Belgian champions Standard Liege and Portugal’s Vitoria Guimaraes also in Group F.

Wolves, in their first European campaign since 1980, will meet Portuguese club Braga in their opening game at Molineux.

Nuno Espirito Santo’s team came through three ties just to reach the group stage. They beat Torino 5-3 on aggregate in the play-offs.

Scottish champions Celtic travel to French Cup holders Rennes in Group E, with Italian Cup holders Lazio and CFR Cluj, the Romanian side to whom they lost in Champions League qualifying, completing a tricky section.

Rangers are at home to Feyenoord and will do well to navigate a group with Porto and Swiss champions Young Boys.

Roma will take on Istanbul Basaksehir in their first game while Moenchengladbach host Austria’s Wolfsberg – not to be confused with German outfit Wolfsburg.

Uefa will distribute €560 million to clubs competing in this season’s Europa League, just over a quarter of the €1.95 billion allocated to those participating in the Champions League.

Each of the 48 clubs in the group stage will receive €2.92m, with lifting the trophy worth just under €18m. – AFP